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ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI)-based weekly inflation for the combined income group increased 0.52 percent during the week ended on Jan 28, 2021, on the back of an uptick in prices of essential food items.
According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday, the weekly SPI with base year 2015-16=100 covers 17 urban centers and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups. Out of the 51 monitored items, the average price of 18 items increased, nine items decreased whereas 24 items registered no change during the week.
The SPI augment is mostly attributable to a rise in prices of food items i.e. chicken (14.81pc), chili powder (9.40pc), cooking oil (4.11pc), vegetable ghee (3.83pc), and mustard oil (1.38pc).
Among non-food items, washing soap (2.15pc) with the joint impact of (1.07pc) into the overall SPI for the combined group of (0.52pc).
On the other hand, a decrease was observed in the prices of tomatoes (29.82pc), eggs (8.20pc), potatoes (3.37pc), onions (2.28pc), LPG (1.73pc), sugar (1.54pc), pulse moong (0.68pc), bananas (0.32pc) and wheat flour (0.07pc).
Despite a remarkable income tax collection by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), tall claims regarding economic improvement by the government the masses still under the grip of inflation as the authorities failed to control the prices of essential commodities.
The cost of every notable consumer item including medicines, beef, house rent, gold and cars increased significantly, affecting all types of income groups of consumers in the country.
The people had failed to get subsidized items, including sugar, ghee, rice, pulses and flour. The shortage of essential items in the utility stores had created tension for the people visiting the stores for getting edibles at subsidized rates across the country.