ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: Prices of 16 essential kitchen items witnessed an upward trend during the week ending on Dec 6 over the 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 has pushed up the weekly inflation measured through the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), which increased by 8.01 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 10.29 per cent and 10.06 per cent, respectively, for households in the two lower income brackets (up to Rs3,000 and Rs3,001-5,000).

For households in the income bracket of Rs5,001-12,000, the increase in the SPI was in the range of 9.03 per cent while for households in the income basket of over Rs12,000, inflation registered a growth of 6.14 per cent over last year week.

This indicates that the impact of the increase in the SPI was hard-hitting for the lower income groups, who witnessed a double digit increase in the SPI as compared to rich people.

According to the data, prices of 16 items went up during the period under review as compared to the previous week.

The prices of egg increased by 3.60 per cent to Rs55.52 per kg as against Rs53.59; an increase of 1.63 per cent in wheat, which stood at Rs16.20 per kg during the week under review as against Rs15.94.

The prices of onion increased by 1.53 per cent to Rs17.89 per kg from Rs17.62, firewood 1.40 per cent to Rs216.66 per 40kg as against Rs213.66, 1.27 per cent in bananas to Rs27.86 per dozen as against Rs27.64, vegetable ghee tin 0.70 per cent to Rs286.06 per 2.5 kg from Rs284.06; cooking oil tin 0.70 per cent to Rs286.06 per 2.5 litres against Rs284.06, bread plain mid-size 0.68 per cent to Rs17.65 each against Rs17.53, washing soap nylon 0.65 per cent to Rs9.32 per cake as against Rs9.26.

The prices of tea prepared increased by 0.45 per cent to Rs6.65 per cup as against Rs6.62, rice basmati broken 0.39 per cent to Rs33.51 per kg as against Rs33.38, masoor pulse washed 0.35 per cent to Rs60.23 per kg as against Rs60.02, mustard oil by 0.30 per cent to Rs116.08 per kg as against Rs115.73, and kerosene 0.15 per cent to Rs39.50 per litre as against Rs39.44.