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Weekly inflation surges 30pc on costly food
ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation surged 29.88 per cent year on year in the week ending on Nov 2 primarily due to increasing prices of kitchen products, according to official data released on Friday.
Measured by the Sensitive Price Index, the weekly inflation also increased 0.71pc on a week-on-week basis. The SPI rate decelerated last week following a steady increase over five successive weeks.
The caretaker government maintained the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel for the current fortnight, dashing the hopes of consumers who anticipated a significant reduction. Ogra has recommended a significant decline but the interim government has chosen to keep fuel prices unchanged at high levels.
Of the 51 items in the SPI basket, prices of 12 increased while those of 14 dropped. The number of items whose prices remained unchanged compared to the previous week was 25.
During the week under review, the items whose prices increased the most over the same week a year ago were gas charges for Q1 (108.38pc), cigarettes (94.46pc), chillies powder (84.11pc), rice basmati broken (78.08pc), wheat flour (76.51pc), sugar (62.60pc), rice Irri-6/9 (62.27pc), gents sponge chappal (58.05pc), tea Lipton (55.79pc), garlic (54.51pc) and gur (53.53pc).
The biggest increases week-on-week were seen in the prices of tomatoes (25.58pc), onions (25.25pc), chicken (10.79pc), potatoes (1.61pc), tea Lipton (1.58pc), eggs (1.30pc), garlic (0.50pc), rice basmati broken (0.19pc), georgette (0.28pc) and firewood (0.05pc).
In May, the SPI stayed above 45pc for three weeks after hitting an all-time high of 48.35pc on May 4. The rupee’s depreciation, rising petrol prices, sales tax, gas bills and electricity bills are among the key contributors to this inflationary trend.
Meanwhile, on a week-on-week basis, the prices of gur dropped by (2.66pc), banana (1.78pc), cooking oil 5-litre (1.62pc), vegetable ghee 1 kg (1.23pc),
LPG cylinder (1.05pc), pulse masoor (0.93pc), wheat flour (0.62pc), washing soap (0.41pc) and mustard oil (0.32pc).
Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2023
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