ISLAMABAD – The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation increased to 15.68 percent during December in annual terms while the average inflation rate during the first half (July-December 2010) of the current fiscal year stood at 14.65 percent a compared to the same period last year. According to official data released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) increased 21.65 percent and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) increased by 24.40 percent since last year. The CPI inflation rate witnessed a decline of 0.31 percent in December 2010 as compared with the previous month of November. In December SPI decreased 0.64 percent while the WPI rose by 1.63 percent over the previous month.
Analysis of CPI data shows food and beverages group’s inflation increased 20.36 percent in December 2010 over December 2009, apparel, textile and footwear by 11.91 percent, house rent 6.67 percent, fuel and lighting, 22.72 percent, household furniture, 10.03 percent, transport and communication, 19.19 percent, recreation and entertainment, 13.82 percent, education, 5.18 percent, cleaning and laundry, 11.39 percent and medicare, 17.84 percent.
The main commodities, which revealed a rise in rates in December on a year on year basis, include house rent, 6.67 percent, electricity charges, 29.72 percent, communication, 37.12 percent, fresh milk, 17.65 percent, meat, 30.41 percent, onions, 124.95 percent, ghee, 28.66 percent, tomatoes, 150.83 percent, sugar, 35.85 percent and vegetables, 30.5 percent. The hike in prices of petroleum products and power tariff have been key factors in the pushing up of the CPI inflation rate, which was estimated at 9.5 percent in the federal budget, but later on revised to 14.5 percent.
