The hike in fuel and electricity prices pushed up the consumer prices to 13.9 percent on year-on-year basis, says the data released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) on Saturday. FBS Secretary Asif Bajwa said according to the group wise percentage changes in CPI during 2010-11 over the previous financial year, 2009-10, average inflation rate in general group showed 13.9 percent increase with food and beverages seeing 17.95 percent hike. The percentage hike in prices of other items are: non-perishable food items 16.07, perishable food items 30.87, electricity 19.41, apparel, textile and footwear 11.99, house rent 7.29, fuel and lighting 15.32, household furniture and equipment 10.18, transport and communication 14.38, recreation and entertainment 9.87, education 6.14, Medicare 15.06, and cleaning, laundry and personal appearance 12.54. The main commodities showing significant rise in prices annually include moong pulse 76.57 percent, tomatoes 59.38, spices 43.14, onions 36.61, vegetables 31.58, gram pulse 30.86, jewellery 29.68, besan 29.63, vegetable ghee 28.49, mash pulse 27.53, sugar 26.89, honey 26.71, meat 26.68, communication 26.35, fresh fruits 26.02 percent and cooking oil 21.38 percent. The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation increased 0.55 percent in June as compared to the previous month of May. The increase was driven by a 30.28 percent rise in the tomatoes, 1.62 percent rise in fuel and lighting, and 15.5 percent in air fare.
