SPI increases by 0.55% after three weeks

December 17, 2021 (MLN): After three weeks decline, the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the combined group witnessed an increase of 0.55% WoW for the week ended December 16, 2021, weekly data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

As per the PBS inflation report, this increase was mainly on account of an upsurge in the price of electricity and essential food items.

The combined index clocked in at 168.16 compared to 167.24 on December 9, 2021.

Similarly, the year-on-year trend also observed a surge of 19.49% when the index was recorded at 140.73 a year ago, on December 17, 2020.

Out of the 51 monitored items, the average price of 17 items registered an increase in the week that include salt (3.70%), pulse gram (2.08%), bananas (1.69%), mustard oil (1.35%), pulse mash (1.32%). Meanwhile, the prices of electricity for Q1 jumped by 10.37% and washing soap by 1.23% in a week.

On the other hand, the average price of 15 items decreased weekly including tomatoes that witnessed a drop of 12.65%, chicken by 5.94%, onions by 3.94%, and diesel by 3.48% whereas the prices of 19 items registered no change during the week.

The weekly SPI percentage change by income groups showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 0.11% and 0.98%.

The lowest income group saw a weekly rise of 0.45% while the highest income group recorded a jump of 0.30%.

On a yearly basis, analysis of SPI change across different income segments showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 17.59% and 21.42%.

Yearly SPI for the lowest income group increased by 21.42% while the highest income group recorded an increase of 19.46%.

The average price of sona urea stood at Rs1,894 per 50 kg bag which is 0.83% lower than last week’s price and 10.49% higher when compared to last year.

Going by the PBS report, the average cement price was recorded at Rs741 per 50 kg bag, depicting a decline of 0.18% WoW, while increasing by 27.98% YoY.

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