ISLAMABAD, Nov 24: Prices of 18 essential kitchen items witnessed an upward trend during the week ending Nov 23 over previous week, according to statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) here on Saturday.

This surge in the prices of items of daily use pushed up weekly inflation measured through Sensitive Price Index (SPI). The SPI increased by 8.36 per cent during the week under review over last year.

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 10.33 per cent and 10.19 per cent, respectively, for households in the two lower income brackets (up to Rs3,000 and Rs3,001-5,000).

For households in income brackets of Rs5, 001-12,000, the increase in SPI was in the range of 9.27 per cent, while for the households in the income basket of over Rs12,000, the inflation registered a growth 6.45 per cent over last year week.

Comparing with the previous week, the SPI registered an increase of 0.05 per cent during the period under review.

The statistics showed that the impact of increase in SPI was hard hitting for the lower income group, which witnessed a double digit increase in SPI as compared to rich people.

According to the data, prices of 18 items went up during the period under review as compared to the previous week.

The prices of chicken increased by 2.67 per cent to Rs79.74 per kg as against Rs77.67; an increase of 1.75 per cent in rice irri-6, which stood at Rs24.45 per kg during the week under review as against Rs24.03.

The prices of washing soap (nylon) increased by 1.34 per cent to Rs9.09 per cake from Rs8.97, mustard oil 1.12 per cent to Rs114.35 per kg as against Rs113.08, 0.94 per cent in cooked dal plate to Rs19.28 each as against Rs19.10, potatoes 0.91 per cent to Rs17.68 per kg from Rs17.52; cooked beef plate 0.91 per cent to Rs32.25 each as against Rs31.96, vegetable ghee (tin) 0.79 per cent to Rs279.06 per 2.5 kg as against Rs276.88, cooking oil tin 0.79 per cent to Rs279.06 per 2.5 litres as against Rs276.88.

The price of masoor pulse washed increased by 0.71 per cent to Rs59.76 per kg as against Rs59.34, wheat 0.46 per cent to Rs15.33 per kg as against Rs15.26, tea 0.46 per cent to Rs6.61 per cup as against Rs6.58, vegetable ghee by 0.44 per cent to Rs100.47 per kg as against Rs100.03, milk fresh 0.41 per cent to Rs26.46 per kg as against Rs29.37, curd 0.32 per cent to Rs34.54 per kg as against Rs34.43; rice basmati broken up by 0.18 per cent to Rs33.27 per kg as against Rs33.21, bananas 0.14 per cent to Rs28.42 per kg as against Rs28.38, and wheat flour 0.12 per cent to Rs16.93 per kg as against Rs16.91.