ISLAMABAD: The prices of various food items went down during the week ending on February 3 as compared to the previous week, according to the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) here Friday.
According to the data, the food commodities that witnessed decrease in prices on Week-on-Week (WoW) basis included potatoes and onions, the prices of which declined by 6.06 percent and 3.59 percent respectively.
The other food products that witnessed decrease in prices included Eggs (3.53%), Sugar (0.83%), Pulse Mash (0.48%) and Pulse Moong (0.19%).
On Year-on-Year (YoY) basis, the commodities that witnessed decrease in prices during the week compared to corresponding week of last year included f pulse Moong (26.55%), chillies powdered (22.44%), onions (5.58%), potatoes (2.61%) and chicken (1.86%).
On the other hand, the items that witnessed increase in prices on WoW basis included tomatoes (90.13%), chicken (10.50%), garlic (5.67%), bananas (2.47%), mustard oil (2.38%) and non-food items lpg (1.54%) and energy saver (1.06%) was observed with joint impact of (1.43%) into the overall SPI for combined group of (1.35%).
On YoY basis, the commodities that witnessed increase in prices included tomatoes (232.93%), electricity for q1 (81.39%), lpg (54.24%), mustard oil (49.61%), cooking oil 5 litre (46.29%), washing soap (41.74%), vegetable ghee 1 kg (41.31%), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (41.00%), pulse masoor (39.00%), garlic (35.68%), petrol (34.87%) and diesel (27.35%).
During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 22 (43.14%) items increased, 06 (11.76%) items decreased and 23 (45.10%) items remained stable
The overall SPI based weekly inflation for the week ended on February 3 witnessed an increase of 1.23 per cent for the combined income group as compared to the previous week.
The SPI for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 170.75 points against 168.67 points registered in the previous week.
The weekly SPI with base year 2015-16=100 is covering 17 urban centers and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.
The Sensitive Price Indicator for the lowest consumption group up to Rs17,732 witnessed 1.54 percent increase and went up from 175.29 points in last week to 177.99 points during the week under review.
Meanwhile, the SPI for the consumption groups from Rs17,732-22,888, Rs22,889-29,517, Rs29,518-44,175 and above Rs 44,175 increased by 1.60 percent and 1.48 percent, 1.43 percent and 1.23 percent respectively.