Business
Prices of 12 food items spiked within one week
The overall inflation rate for the week ended on Thursday, 22 April was recorded at 17.68 per cent while the prices of food items declined by 0.40 per cent.
As per the report of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the price of 12 items has inflated. The most considerable boost was recorded in the price of flour. The report maintains that the price of 20kg floor bag has increased by 68 rupees and the new price of 20kg floor bag steps up to Rs1056.
The report says that during the week, out of 51 items, prices of 12 (23.53%) items increased, 13 (25.49%) items decreased and 26 (50.98%) items remained constant.
The SPI for the current week ended on 22nd April 2021 recorded a decrease in the prices of Tomatoes (30.22%), Onions (8.12%), Eggs (5.81%), Garlic (2.92%), Sugar (2.68%), Diesel (2.02%), Petrol (1.58%), Bananas (1.03%), LPG (0.96%) and Chicken (0.89%) with the joint impact of (-0.73%) into the overall SPI for the combined group of (-0.40%).
On the other hand an increase of 1% or more in the prices of Wheat Flour Bag (6.93%), Potatoes (1.94%) and Mutton (1.48%).
Furthermore, the report stated that the per kg price of mutton has been increased by 15 rupees and the new price of mutton is 1045 rupees per kg.
The year on year trend depicts an increase of 17.68% with most of the items increased mainly Chilies Powder (139.64%), Chicken (81.33%), Electricity for Q1 (67.03%), Eggs (47.01%), Tomatoes (35.24%), Gents Sandal (33.37%), Mustard Oil (31.41%), Match Box (30.47%), Bananas (27.72%), Gents Sponge Chappal (25.13%) and Vegetable Ghee (22.36%), While a major decrease was observed in the prices of Onions (43.17%), Garlic (39.03%), Pulse Moong (18.97%), Potatoes (12.88%), Pulse masoor (12.65%) and Pulse Gram (7.15%).
The weekly report by PBS further states that the prices of milk, mustard oil, potatoes, and beef have also increased.
Besides, there was a decline of 16 rupees and 10 rupees in the prices of per kg tomatoes and per dozen eggs respectively.
The report further maintains that the prices of onions, chicken, petrol and refined sugar has also decreased.
Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) is computed on weekly basis to assess the price movements of essential commodities at a shorter interval of time to review the price situation in the country. SPI comprises 51 essential items and the prices are being collected from 50 markets in 17 cities of the country.