ISLAMABAD, April 5: The Sensitive Price Indicator during the week ending April 3, dropped by 0.42 per cent over the previous week mainly due to downward revision of the rates of three major petroleum products. The overall index was down from 108.22 to 107.77.

In keeping with the global trends, the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene were reduced by 10.31%, 5.34% and 10.98%, respectively, although not to the extent warranted by the sharp reduction in international prices.

According to the group-wise analysis of the prices of 53 essential items collected from 17 towns, the biggest beneficiaries of decline in the SPI were the affluent households with monthly income above Rs12,000. In their case, the index dropped by 0.84%, that is, double the rate of decline of the combined SPI.

By contrast, index for the households with incomes up to Rs3,000 per month fell by a mere 0.04%. For the middle income households in the income brackets Rs3,001-5,000 and Rs5,001-12,000, on the other hand, the SPI increased by 0.02% each.

In addition to petrol, diesel and kerosene, the prices of 13 other items dropped as follows: Potatoes (-3.97%), gram pulse washed (-2.07%), garlic (-1.66%), red chilies (powdered) (-0.90%), wheat (-0.76%), mash pulse washed (-0.58%), egg (farm) (-0.37%), gur (-0.31%), mustard oil (-0.20%), sugar (-0.15%), LPG (11 kg cylinder) (-0.12%), rice Irri-6 (-0.08%) and masoor pulse washed (-0.03%).

The period under review also saw increase in prices of following 10 essential items, while those of 27 remaining items of SPI basket remained unchanged. The items which became dearer during the period under review over the previous week were as follows: Chicken farm (10.65%), onions (5.19%), tomatoes (2.54%), firewood (1.02%), bananas (0.41%), milk fresh (0.32%), rice basmati and mutton (0.11%) each), moong pulse washed and vegetable ghee (loose) (0.07%).

Besides, the cost of most of chemical fertilizers too registered upward swing during the period under review as compared to previous week as follows: Urea Sona (0.10%), Urea Sona (0.12%), Dia Ammonium Phosphate (0.59%), Nitro Phosphate (0.10%), S.SP. Phosphate (GR) (0.38%), S.SP. Phosphate (PD) (0.51%), T.SP. Phosphate (GR) (1.05%) and C. Ammonium Nitrate (0.44%).

The cement prices which had shown a sharp rise in prices last week again recorded a declining trend. On average, these were down by 3.06% from the previous week. The new prices ranged from Rs180 per bag (Hyderabad) to Rs227 per bag (Rawalpindi and Islamabad).