Pakistan records over 37pc inflation last week
Business
Among 51 items, prices of 19 goods increased, 16 decreased, and 16 remained unchanged
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Official data released on Friday indicates that the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) recorded a year-on-year increase of 37.07 percent for the week ending October 5, marking the fourth consecutive week of rising short-term inflation.
This surge is primarily attributed to the escalating retail prices of petroleum products, causing ripple effects across various sectors, particularly impacting transportation costs.
This marks the highest increase in short-term inflation in three weeks, reflecting the ongoing trend of rising expenses.
In the last week, the interim government slightly reduced petroleum product prices after consecutive increases over three fortnights, leading to increased transportation fares. The cost of moving goods has also risen due to higher fuel prices. To meet demand, the country has been relying on imports of essential vegetables, including tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and other items from Afghanistan.
Some relief was observed in the prices of certain vegetables following the reopening of the Torkham border with Afghanistan, but short-term inflation remains high, rising by 0.11 percent from the preceding week.
Among the 51 items in the SPI basket, prices of 19 goods increased, 16 decreased, and 16 remained unchanged compared to the previous week.
During the week under consideration, the items whose prices reportedly rose the most over the same week a year ago were: gas charges for Q1 (108.38pc), electricity charges for Q1 (118.16pc), cigarettes (94.69pc), rice basmati broken (87.60pc), sugar (79.55pc), chili powder (84.84pc), rice Irri-6/9 (78.69pc), wheat flour (77.91pc), gur (67.68pc), tea Lipton (60.72pc), gents sponge chappal (58.05pc), salt (56.48pc), garlic (54.78pc), gents sandal (53.37pc), petrol (43.70pc) and potatoes (42.99pc).
The greatest rise week-on-week was seen in the prices of tomatoes (12.45pc), onions (11.96pc), garlic (2.59pc), potatoes (1.81pc), cooked daal (1.27pc), eggs (0.84pc), beef (0.53pc), bread (0.52pc), LPG 3.11pc, firewood 0.76pc and long cloth 0.51pc.
