ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: Sensitive Price Indicator declined by 0.08 per cent during the week ending August 21 as compared to previous week, says the weekly price statement of the Federal Bureau of Statistics released here on Saturday.
The main factor in the apparent let-up in price spiral was the seasonal massive drop of 22.59pc in the average prices of tomatoes from Rs16.51 to Rs12.78 per kg. This, therefore, does not necessarily denote any real relief from the relentless rise in the cost of living.
This is quite clear from the fact that the cost of petroleum fuels — diesel, kerosene oil and petrol — was raised again during the period under review.
In aggregate, the FBS statement showed a 0.15pc decrease in the SPI for the Food group, while Non-Food and Transport & Communications registered a further upward spiral of 0.08pc and 0.57pc, respectively.
The combined figure for all the commodity-groups remained depressed at minus 0.08pc because of the higher weightage assigned to Food in the SPI.
For the households with incomes up to Rs3,000, Food group showed a decline of 0.09pc, an increase of 0.28pc in Transport & Communications and zero change in Non-Food and Utility groups.
Thus the income/commodity group wise index for this lowest income category declined by 0.07%.
For the households in income bracket Rs3,001-5,000, the index declined by 0.09pc — accounted for by 0.30pc increase in Transport & Communication as against a decline of 0.12pc in Food group and of 0.01pc in Non-Food group.
The middle income group in the income bracket Rs5,001-12,000 registered 0.10pc decline in the income/commodity group wise index. For this category, the Food group underwent decline only in the Food group, that is, by 0.13pc. In the Non-Food and Transport & Communications, however, the index declined by 0.01pc and increased by 0.40pc, respectively.
As regards the fourth income group comprising households with monthly incomes above Rs12,000, it experienced 0.04pc drop in the overall index with a 0.14pc decline in Food group. This decline was, however, largely nullified by increase of 0.14pc and of 0.59pc in Non-Food and Transport & Communication groups, respectively.
In addition to tomatoes, prices of the following 12 essential items fell during the period under review as compared to previous week:
Egg (farm) (4.01%), bath soap (Lifebuoy) (2.13%), onions (1.01%), potatoes (0.96%), mash pulse washed (0.42%), rice basmati broken and rice Irri-6 (0.32% each), sugar (0.31%), bananas (0.24%), L.P.G. (11 KG cylinder) (0.10%), voile printed (0.09%) and garlic (0.07%).
Out of 53 essential items comprising the SPI basket, 13 other items became dearer as follows:
Chicken farm (2.91%), diesel (2.48%), kerosene oil (2.30%), wheat (1.36%), wheat flour average quality (0.77%), gur (0.70%), red chilies (powdered) (0.43%), petrol (0.28%), beef (0.20%), curd (0.18%), masoor pulse washed (0.11%), mustard oil (0.07%) and firewood (0.07%).
CEMENT: Cement prices, averaged from those prevailing in 8 cities during the period under review, moved to Rs224.42 per 50-kg bag, up 0.09pc from previous week. The prices ranged from Rs210 (Hyderabad) to Rs230 (Islamabad, Lahore and Quetta). In Karachi, it was shown as Rs217 per bag.
According to a separate table, the rate of CNG also increased during the period under review by 0.33pc over the previous week.
FERTILIZER: While the price of C. Ammonium Nitrate went up by 0.80pc over the previous week, that of other fertilizers dropped as follows:
Urea Sona (0.20%), Urea Kisan (0.56%), Ammonium Sulphate (0.21%), Dia Ammon. Phosphate (0.05%), Nitro Phosphate (0.40%), S.SP. Phosphate (GR) (0.19%) and Sulphate of Pot. (1.39%).