ISLAMABAD, July 28: Prices of 17 essential kitchen items went up during the week ending on July 27, over the previous week, according to the weekly price data released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) on Saturday.

The data indicated that the individual prices of some vegetable items, cooking oil and pulses recorded an increase during the week under review for all income groups.

According to the data, prices of 17 items went up during the period under review as compared to the previous week. The price of tomato increased by 29.82 per cent to Rs24.25 per kg as against Rs18.68; an increase of 2.70 per cent in chicken, which stood at Rs66.64 per kg during the week under review as against Rs64.71.

The price of masoor pulse (washed) increased by 1.40 per cent to Rs52.02 per kg from Rs51.30, cooked daal (pulse) plate 1.13 per cent to Rs18.84 each as against Rs18.63, 1.12 per cent in mustard oil to Rs90.40 per kg as against Rs89.40, 1.06 per cent in salt powdered to Rs4.76 per kg from Rs4.71; washing soap nylon 0.69 per cent to Rs8.71 per cake as against Rs8.65, gram pulse (washed) 0.59 per cent to Rs40.81 per kg as against Rs40.57, red chillies 0.49 per cent to Rs120.41 per kg as against Rs119.82.

The price of tea prepared increased by 0.46 per cent to Rs6.55 per cup as against Rs6.52; coarse latha 0.42 per cent to Rs36.28 per meter as against Rs36.13; cooked beef plate 0.38 per cent to Rs31.35 each as against Rs31.23; curd by 0.35 per cent to Rs34.20 per kg as against Rs34.08; vegetable ghee loose 0.28 per cent to Rs86.75 per kg as against Rs86.51, beef 0.25 per cent to Rs120.88 per kg as against Rs120.58, wheat 0.08 per cent to Rs12.58 per kg as against Rs12.57 and 0.08 per cent in mash pulse (washed) to Rs71.74 per kg as against Rs71.68.

The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) increased by 0.23 per cent during the week ending July 27, over the previous week.

The group-wise analysis of the behaviour of prices of 53 essential items prevailing in 17 towns of Pakistan shows that the SPI witnessed an increase of 0.22 per cent and 0.22 per cent, respectively, for households in the two lower income brackets (up to Rs3,000 and Rs3,001-5,000).

For the households in income brackets Rs5,001-12,000, the increase in the SPI was in the range of 0.24 per cent, while for the households in the income group basket of over Rs12,000, the inflation registered a growth 0.21 per cent over the previous week.

Comparing with the corresponding week last year, the SPI registered an increase of 7.4 per cent during the period under review.