ISLAMABAD: Weekly inflation for the combined group in the period ended on March 25 increased by 0.61 percent on the back of an uptick in prices of essential food items.
According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), a week-on-week increase in inflation was noticed after a drop for the past second consecutive week.
For the lowest income group earning below Rs17, 732 per month, the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) increased by 0.52pc. For the group earning above Rs44, 175, SPI recorded an increase of 0.61pc.
This was mainly due to an increase in prices of food items including tomatoes 20.04pc, chicken 8.81pc, bread 1.64pc, bananas 1.55pc and wheat flour bag 1.01pc.
The items whose prices decreased during the week included garlic, which recorded a decline of 8.12pc, onions 2.27pc, potatoes 1.98pc, pulse moong (0.54pc), rice basmati broken (0.28pc) and brown sugar 0.20pc.
Ahead of Ramadan, essential commodities have witnessed a sharp increase in prices causing hardships to the poor. In Karachi, 1kg sugar is available for Rs105, chicken is being sold for Rs450 a kg, cooking oil is retailing at Rs280 per liter, while the prices of pulses have also witnessed an increase.
Other essential items have also moved up in the capital city of Islamabad. In Gujranwala, the price of goat meat has gone up to as high as Rs1,200 per kg, as compared to its earlier rate of Rs900, while the rate of chicken meat has shot up by Rs25 per kg.
