ISLAMABAD, Sept 12: Inflation in terms of Consumer Price Index (CPI) moved up by 3.82 per cent in July-August 2002, over the corresponding period of previous year, reports Federal Bureau of Statistics.
In its monthly release here on Thursday, the FBS further stated that the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) had spiralled by 5.17pc, while the increase in Wholesale Price Index (WPI) was of
2.86pc.
Among these price indicators, SPI surged the most when compared with previous two years, 2001-02 (2.21pc) and 2000-01 (3.90pc). In August 2002, CPI rose by 3.66pc over the corresponding period of previous year, SPI by 5.02pc and WPI by 3.55pc.
When compared to previous month (July 2002), CPI registered an increase of 0.31pc. As regards SPI and WPI, these went up by 1.09pc and 1.66pc respectively.
The new CPI, using 2000-01 as the base year, has divided the items in 10 groups. According to FBS data, the cost of fuel & lighting (including petroleum fuels) soared the highest by 8.60pc during August 2002 over the same month of previous year. As compared to previous month, it went up by 1.92pc.
The next highest increase was in medicare, which rose by 6.49pc and by 0.17pc over the previous month.
The food group also remained under spotlight in terms of price spiral. It registered an increase of 4.66pc in August as compared to the same month of 2001 and of 0.24pc over July 2002.
Education was another group characterising galloping price of learning in a country with one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world. The CPI for this group showed an increase of 4.15pc within the last one year. The increase in cost of education against July 2002 was 0.12pc.
The rise in CPI for other groups was as follows:
* Apparel, textile & footwear: 2.09pc; house rent: 0.82pc; household, furniture & equipment etc.: 1.94pc; transport & communication: 3.59pc; recreation & entertainment: 0.75pc; and cleaning, laundry & personal appearance: 3.64pc.
The main commodities which showed an increase in their prices during August over July 2002 are as under:
FOOD & BEVERAGES: Onions (22.13pc), tomatoes (18.04pc), eggs (4.11pc), vegetable ghee (2.28pc), rice (1.55pc), wheat (1.39pc), fresh fruits (1.31pc) and meat (1.07pc).
FUEL & ENERGY: Kerosene (5.68pc) and electricity (3.04pc).
The main commodities, which showed a decrease in their prices are as under:
FOOD & BEVERAGES: Vegetables (10.10pc), dry fruits (5.74pc), chicken farm (3.58pc), fish (3.56pc), potatoes (2.81pc), pulse mash (2.63pc), pulse moong (1.92pc), pulse masoor (1.44pc), gram whole (1.31pc), pulse gram (1.28pc), sugar (1.26pc) and besan (1.04pc).
WPI: WPI for raw materials registered an increase of 5.14pc over August 2001 and of 5.02pc over July 2001. It went up by 0.83pc and 0.11pc for building materials over August 2002 and July 2001 respectively.