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ISLAMABAD: Weekly inflation for the combined group in the period ended on March 11 fell by 0.57 per cent on the back of a slight decline in prices of essential food items, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday showed.
Since January, an upward movement in the prices of essential kitchen items was noted despite the government’s claims that rates of consumer items were declining. However, the fall in prices during the week will have an impact on overall inflation in the month of March. The PBS calculates the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) based on the prices of 51 essential items from 50 markets across 17 cities of the country.
For the lowest income group earning below Rs17,732 per month, the SPI decreased by 0.95pc, while for those who are earning above Rs44,175, it recorded a decline of 0.15pc.
This was mainly due to a decline in prices of food items including garlic (6.64pc), chicken (2.96pc), onions (0.91pc), gur (0.69pc) and pulse masoor (0.49pc). Among non-food items, prices of electricity for the lower category dropped by 9pc and LPG 2.13pc.
The items whose prices increased during the week included eggs (10.78pc), tomatoes (7.01pc), bananas (3.83pc), potatoes (2.31pc), sugar (1.74pc), milk fresh (1.37pc), curd (1.12pc) and wheat flour bag (1.03pc). Among non-food items, the price of lawn printed rose (2.33pc), shirting (1.36pc), long cloth (1.27pc), and georgette cloth (1.24pc).
During the week, 26 items recorded an increase, 7 showed decline and 18 unchanged. Contrary to this trend, the month of February saw a rebound in prices of consumer products as inflation edged up to8.7pc from 5.7pc. The trends show that no major let-up will be seen in the monthly inflation of March.
The price of vegetable ghee/oil, sugar, pulses are still going up. Moreover, the price of energy items is also going up for the past few weeks which will push up the overall inflation in the country. The National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC), which monitor prices of essential food items in the country, in its last meeting had directed the PBS to work out a ranking of the districts with reference to the price control so that provincial governments can take necessary action accordingly.