SPI based inflation up by 0.33%
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), for the week ended on July 31, for the lowest income group up to Rs.3,000, has registered increase of 0.33 percent over the previous week.
The SPI for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 213.65 as against 212.95 registered in the previous week, according to data released by Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) here. The weekly SPI has been computed with base 2000-2001=100 covering 17 urban centres and 53 essential items for all income groups and combined. The SPI for the combined group registered increase of 0.31 per cent by rising from 205.98 in the previous week to 206.61 in the week under review. As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for combined group in the week under review witnessed increase of 31.92 percent.
The SPI for the groups falling in the income brackets of 3001-5000, 5001-12000 and above 12000 witnessed increase of 0.31, 0.31 and 0.29 respectively over the previous week. During the week under review average prices of 9 items registered decrease, while that of 23 items increased with the remaining 21 items’ prices unchanged.
The items which recorded decrease in their average prices during the week under review included bananas, rice basmati (broken), red chillies, sugar, wheat flour (average quality), rice irri-6, wheat (average quality), vegetable ghee (loose) and egg hen (farm). The items which registered increase in their prices included, onions, tomatoes, garlic, kerosene, chicken (farm), potatoes, LPG( 11 kg cylender.), cooked dal, washing soap (Nylon), cigarettes, masoor pulse (washed), curd, moong pulse (washed), mash pulse (washed), gram pulse (washed), gur, milk (fresh), beef, cooked beef, tea (prepared), firewood, mutton and mustard oil.