Weekly SPI drops by 0.06%

January 21, 2022 (MLN): The weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the combined group edged lower by 0.06% for the current week ended January 20, 2022, weekly data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

As per the PBS inflation report, the decline was mainly on account of a drop in the price of essential food items.

The combined index clocked in at 167.29 compared to 167.39 on January 13, 2022.

However, the year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 19.36% when the index was recorded at 140.15 a year ago, on January 21, 2021.

Out of the 51 monitored items, the average price of 7 items decreased weekly including chicken that witnessed a drop of 7.74%, onions by 4.47%, potatoes by 1.89%, eggs by 1.67%, and non-food items such as electricity for Q1 declined by 1.88%, was observed with the joint impact of -0.59% into the overall SPI for the combined group.

Meanwhile, the average price of 24 items registered an increase in the week that include tomatoes, garlic, matchbox, hi-speed diesel, and firewood.

The weekly SPI percentage change by income groups showed that SPI decreased across all quantiles ranging between -0.01% and 0.02%.

The lowest income group saw a weekly increase of 0.02% while the highest income group recorded a fall of 0.01%.

On a yearly basis, analysis of SPI change across different income segments showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 17.37% and 20.85%.

Yearly SPI for the lowest income group increased by 20.85% while the highest income group recorded an increase of 19.61%.

The average price of sona urea stood at Rs1,999 per 50 kg bag which is 2.98% higher than last week’s price and 15.93% higher when compared to last year.

Going by the PBS report, the average cement price was recorded at Rs738 per 50 kg bag, depicting no change over the week, while increased by 24.39% YoY.

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