Weekly inflation declines 0.5%

December 31, 2021 (MLN): The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the combined group witnessed a decline of 0.5% WoW for the week ended December 30, 2021, weekly data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

As per the PBS inflation report, this decrease was mainly on account of decline in the price of essential food items and LPG.

The combined index clocked in at 167.98 compared to 168.83 on December 23, 2021.

Contrary to this, the year-on-year trend observed a surge of 20% when the index was recorded at 139.92 a year ago, on December 31, 2020.

Out of the 51 monitored items, the average price of 7 items registered a decline in the week that include tomatoes (30.92%), potatoes (7.92%), chilies powdered (5.78%), onions (2.39%), wheat flour (0.42%), pulse mash (0.22%), and LPG (1.59%).

On the other hand, the average price of 22 items increased weekly including bananas (3.19%), chicken (2.16%), tea prepared (2.05%), eggs (1.45%), and pulse masoor (1.10%).

The weekly SPI percentage change by income groups showed that SPI decreased across all quantiles ranging between 0.4% and 0.8%.

The lowest income group saw a weekly dip of 0.8% while the highest income group recorded a decline of 0.4%.

On a yearly basis, analysis of SPI change across different income segments showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 18.05% and 21.92%.

Yearly SPI for the lowest income group increased by 21.92% while the highest income group recorded an increase of 18.05%.

The average price of sona urea stood at Rs1,958 per 50 kg bag which is 2.58% higher than last week’s price and 13.89% higher when compared to last year.

Going by the PBS report, the average cement price was recorded at Rs738 per 50 kg bag, depicting a decline of 0.26% WoW, while increasing by 25.84% YoY.

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