Weekly inflation steady at 34pc

ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation was almost steady at around 34 per cent during the week that ended on June 22, official data showed on Friday.

The products whose prices increased the most over the past year included wheat flour (116pc), cigarettes (115pc), tea (113.6 pc), gas charges (108pc), broken basmati rice (77pc), Irri-6/9 rice (76pc), potatoes (68pc), bananas (59pc), gents sponge chappal (58pc), chicken (57.5pc), powdered salt (52pc), bread (50pc), and maash pulse (48pc).

In contrast, the products that saw the highest drop in prices were onions (25pc), tomatoes (24pc), masoor pulse (4.5pc), and diesel (4pc).

When compared with the previous week, the inflation reading was 0.33pc. Of the 51 items whose prices were tracked, costs of 20 items increased, those of 12 items decre­ased, and those of 19 items remained steady.

The biggest rise was observed in the prices of wheat flour (5pc), potatoes (2.6pc), sugar (2.5pc), powdered salt (1.3pc), maash pulse (1.14pc) and matchbox (1.12pc).

On the other hand, the products whose prices dropped the most over the past week were bananas (5.6pc), liquefied petroleum gas (4.3pc), onions (4pc), tomatoes (1.6pc), a 2.5kg pack of vegetable ghee (1.5pc), a 1kg pack of vegetable ghee (0.7pc), and a five-litre pack of cooking oil (0.6pc).

Weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), has eased in the past weeks compared to the last year after the government cut fuel prices slightly.