TAHIR AMIN

ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week ended October 29, 2020, recorded an increase of 1.38 percent over the last week due to a rise in prices of food items, ie, tomatoes (46.58 percent), onions (5.71 percent), sugar (4.18 percent), and potatoes (2.60 percent).

According to the latest data, released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the SPI went up from 141.04 points during the week ended October 22, 2020 to 142.98 points during the week under review.

The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 9.68 percent with most of the items increased mainly chilies powder (86.31 percent), tomatoes (72.24 percent), potatoes (60.71 percent), eggs (47.90 percent), sugar (40.49 percent), moong (29.64 percent), mash (29.26 percent), masoor (23.30 percent), match box (21.29 percent), Sufi washing soap (19.91 percent), bread (18.20 percent), gur (17.99 percent), vegetable ghee 1kg (17.31 percent), rice Irri (16.74 percent), and mustard oil (16.17 percent), while a major decrease was observed in the price of diesel (18.03 percent), garlic (17.06 percent), LPG (8.40 percent), petrol (8.11 percent), electricity (7.04 percent), and onions (3.35 percent).

The weekly SPI covers 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 17 (33.33 percent) items increased, seven (13.72 percent) items decreased, and 27 (52.94 percent) items remained constant, according to the provisional figures released by the PBS.

The SPI for the consumption groups up to Rs17,733, from Rs17,733 to Rs22,888, Rs22,889 to Rs29,517, Rs29,518 to Rs44,175 and above Rs44,175 per month increased by 1.91 percent, 1.82 percent, 1.59 percent, 1.47 percent, and 1.16 percent, respectively. The commodities, which recorded increase in their average price, include tomatoes (46.58 percent), onions (5.71 percent), sugar (4.18 percent), match box (3.07 percent), bananas (2.79 percent), potatoes (2.60 percent), Sufi washing soap (1.20 percent), LPG (0.99 percent), eggs (0.62 percent), beef with bone (0.62 percent), mustard oil (0.44 percent), cooked beef (0.30 percent), garlic (0.28 percent), powdered milk Nido (0.26 percent), mash (0.09 percent), mutton (0.03 percent), and rice basmati broken (0.02 percent).

The commodities, which recorded decrease in their average price, include chicken (0.98 percent), gur (0.96 percent), wheat flour bag 20 kg (0.64 percent), moong washed (0.40 percent), masoor washed (0.32 percent), rice irri-6/9 (0.21 percent), and gram (0.11 percent). Prices of the commodities that observed no change during the week under review include bread plain, milk fresh, curd, cooking oil, vegetable ghee, chilies powder, tea, cooked daal, tea prepared, cigarettes, long cloth 57", shirting, lawn printed, Georgette, gents sandal, gents sponge chappal, ladies sandal, electricity charges for Q1, gas charges up to 3.3719 mmbtu, firewood whole, energy saver, petrol super, hi-speed diesel, telephone call charges, and toilet soap.