ISLAMABAD, Jan 7: Weekly inflation rose for the third consecutive week, and the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) based inflation jacked by more than 100 per cent for the week ending on Jan 5.

According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) here on Saturday, SPI registered an increase of 1.45 per cent for the combined income group against the previous week, whereas SPI during the week ending on Dec 29 increased by 0.70 per cent.

The surge in SPI inflation was witnessed mainly due to increase in kitchen items prices and rise in petrol and gas tariffs.

FBS figures reveal that the SPI for the week under review increased by 1pc for the lowest income group earning up to Rs8,000 per month against previous week, and for the income groups from Rs8001-Rs12,000 it increased by 1.09pc.

For the income group of Rs12,001 to Rs18,000, the SPI increased by 0.96 per cent, while increase for the income group earning between Rs18,001 and 35,000 per month was 1.62 per cent.

However, inflationary impact was the highest for the income group earning more than Rs35,000 per month and the SPI for this group increased by 1.93 per cent against the previous week.

“The inflationary impact has been the highest for the top income group, mainly due to increase in prices of petrol, gas, mutton, chicken and eggs due to slight different consumption pattern of this income group,” said an economist at the Planning Commission.

As inflationary trend continues in the country, 15 out 20 items in food and food related group registered increase in their prices during the week.

The average price of 11 items registered decrease.