ISLAMABAD – The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), for the week ended on January 27, for the lowest income group up to Rs 3,000, has registered decrease of 0.91 per cent over the previous week. The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 297.34 points against 300.06 points registered in the previous week, according to provisional figures of Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS).
The weekly SPI was computed with the base of 2000 =100 covering 17 urban centers and 53 essential items for all income groups and combined. The SPI for the combined group also decreased by 0.92 per cent as it went down from 284.42 points in the previous week to 281.79 points in the week under review. As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined group in the week under review witnessed increase of 16.86 percent.
Compared to last week, the SPI for the income groups ranging from Rs 3001-5000, Rs 5001-12000 and above Rs12000 decreased by 0.94 percent, 0.95 percent and 0.80 percent respectively. During the week under review, average prices of 13 items registered a decline, the prices of 17 items rose and the prices of 23 items were unchanged.
Items which recorded a decline in average prices during the week under review, included tomatoes, onions, potatoes, garlic, sugar, gur, masoor pulse (washed), egg hen (farm), vegetable ghee (loose), LPG (11 KG Cylinder), bananas, moong pulse (washed) and wheat flour (average quality). The items which recorded an increase in their average prices during the week under review included mustard oil, chicken (farm), rice (irri-6), shirting, rice basmati (broken), vegetable ghee (tin), cooking oil (tin), red chillies, firewood,
washing soap, wheat (average quality, kerosene, shirting, beef, mash pulse (washed), gram pulse (washed) and mutton. The items exhibiting no change in their average prices during the week under review were bread, milk (powdered), milk (fresh), curd, tea (packet), tea (prepared), cooked dal, cooked beef, cigarettes, lawn, coarse latha, voil printed, sandal (gents), sandal (ladies), chappal, electricity bulb, match, bath soap, gas charges (up to 3.3719 MMBTU), electricity charges (1-100 unit), petrol, diesel and telephone local call.
