ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index, went up to 15.02 per cent in the week ending October 17 owing to an increase in the prices of perishable products and pulses.

The SPI-based inflation reversed to a modest increase after a one-week decline. It increased by 0.28pc from the previous week, official data showed on Friday.

The upward trend in short-term inflation is due to an increase in the prices of perishable food items such as tomatoes and pulses. Petrol prices have declined marginally in the previous weeks, although this has been offset by an increase in the prices of vegetables.

SPI declined in March after remaining above 40pc for 11 weeks, surging from 29pc recorded on Nov 8, 2023.

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The weekly inflation hit a record 48.35pc year-on-year in early May 2023, but then decelerated as low as 24.4pc in late August that year before surging past 40pc during the week ending Nov 16, 2023.

The items whose prices saw an increase week-on-week included tomatoes (26.24pc), pulse moong (9.86pc), pulse gram (3.15pc), wheat flour (2.10pc), diesel (2.01pc), LPG (1.50pc), garlic (1.31pc), chicken (0.96pc), eggs (0.68pc), mustard oil (0.65pc) and firewood (0.35pc).

The items whose prices declined the most over the previous week included onions (7.02pc), bananas (2.83pc), gur (1.82pc), potatoes (1.15pc), pulse mash (0.72pc), rice Irri-6/9 (0.40pc), sugar (0.27pc) and rice basmati broken (0.09pc).

However, on an annual basis, the items whose prices increased the most included gas charges for Q1 (570pc), pulse gram (80.85pc), onions (51.32pc), tomatoes (36.81pc), chicken (34.53pc), pulse moong (33.23pc), powdered milk (25.37pc), beef (23.62pc), shirting (17.05pc), cooked daal (14.41pc), georgette (13.22pc) and ladies sandal (12.52pc).

In contrast, the prices of wheat flour dropped 32.20pc, followed by electricity charges for Q1 (20.32pc), chillies powder (20pc), diesel (17.05pc), petrol (12.77pc), cooking oil 5-litre (9.10pc), rice basmati broken (8.18pc), sugar (7.31pc), eggs (6.24pc), bread (5.03pc), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (4.93pc) and washing soap (1.61pc).

The index, comprising 51 items collected from 50 markets in 17 cities, is computed weekly to assess the prices of essential commodities and services at shorter intervals. Data showed that the prices of 19 items increased, nine decreased and 23 items remained stable compared to the previous week.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2024