ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: The weekly inflation measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) went up by 8.42 per cent in the week ending on November 29, 2007 over the last year week, according to statistics released by Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) on Saturday.

This upsurge in the SPI was the outcome of massive increase in the price of essential food items and 11-kg liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders during the week under review over the last year.

The group-wise analysis of the behaviour of prices of 53 essential items prevailing in 17 towns of the country showed that the SPI witnessed an increase of 10.47 per cent and 10.33 per cent, respectively, for households in the two lower income brackets (up to Rs3,000 and Rs3,001-Rs5,000).

For the households in income brackets Rs5,001-12,000, the increase in the SPI was in the range of 9.38 per cent, while for the households in the income group basket of over Rs12,000, the inflation registered a growth 6.53 per cent over the previous week.The statistics clearly indicated that the impact of the increase in SPI was for those people whose earnings were lower or around the Rs3,000 per month.

The price of match box increased by 3.53pc to Rs0.88, washing soap by 1.87pc, vegetable ghee and cooking oil (tin) by 1.79pc to Rs284.06 per 2.5-kg, electric bulb by 1.58pc to Rs12.82, mustard oil by 1.21pc to Rs115.73 per kg; LPG 11-kg cylinder by 1.13pc to Rs699.24, firewood by 0.84pc to Rs213.66 per 40 kg, coarse latha by 0.78pc to Rs39 per metre during the week under review over the previous week.

Similarly, the price of masoor pulse washed increased by 0.44pc to Rs60.02 per kg, vegetable ghee loose by 0.39pc to Rs100.86 per kg, voil printed by 0.38pc to Rs39.36 per metre, bread plain (mid size) by 0.34pc to Rs17.53, rice basmati broken by 0.33pc to Rs33.38 per kg, rice (Irri-6) by 0.33pc to Rs24.53 per kg.

The price of fresh milk rose by 0.20pc to Rs29.55 per litre, tea prepared by 0.15pc to Rs6.62 per cup and beef by 0.08pc to Rs121.47 per kg during the week.