ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) declined by 0.17 per cent during the week ending Jan 22, 2004, as compared to the previous week.

According to the weekly report of the Federal Bureau of Statistics issued here Saturday, the households with monthly incomes up to Rs3,000 incurred a decrease of 0.28 per cent in contrast to the highest income group with incomes above Rs12,000 for which it decreased by only 0.06 per cent.

As regards the middle tier households, SPI decreased by 0.33 per cent for those in the income bracket Rs3,001-5,000 and those with incomes between Rs5,001 and Rs12,000 incurred a decrease of 0.35 per cent.

A glance at the list of 53 essential items constituting the SPI basket provides the reasons for the particular targets of price spiral:

The 16 items, the prices of which increased during the week under review are petrol, diesel, kerosene, garlic, beef, mutton, wheat flour, wheat, mash pulse washed, LPG (11 kg cylinder), coarse latha, cooked beef (plate), rice Irri-6, moong pulse washed, tea (prepared) and bananas.

The 13 items, prices of which registered a decrease during the week under review included tomatoes, potatoes, egg (farm), onions, chicken farm, electric bulb (60-Wats), sugar, gram pulse washed, gur, red chillies (powdered), mustard oil, rice basmati broken and vegetable ghee (loose). However, the prices of 24 items remained unchanged during the period under review.