ISLAMABAD: Inflationary pressure continues to keep up its momentum as the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) for the current week ended on October 23 increased by 0.22 percent.
Major increase was observed in the prices of onions, 5.62 percent; energy saver, 2.51 percent; eggs, 2.38 percent; sugar, 2.04 percent; firewood, 1.17 percent; garlic, 0.93 percent; bananas, 0.80 percent; powdered milk, 0.58 percent; beef, 0.47 percent; and cooking oil (5 litres),0.36 percent.
On the other hand, a decrease was observed in the prices of chicken, 2.51 percent; rice IRRI-6/9, 1.19 percent; pulse moong, 0.65 percent; LPG, 0.12 percent; gur, 0.08 percent; and wheat flour, 0.01percent.
During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 20 (39.22 percent) items increased, 06 (11.76 percent) items decreased, and 25 (49.02 percent) items remained stable.
The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 5.03 percent. Major increase is observed in the prices of tomatoes showing an increase of 120.94percent. Lady sandals’ price hiked by 55.62 percent, sugar by 40.82 percent, gas charges for Q1 by 29.85 percent, wheat flour by 18.28 percent, gur by 18.26 percent, beef by 13.48 percent, firewood by 12.68 percent, vegetable ghee 2.5 kg by 12.46 percent, vegetable ghee 1 kg by 12.37percent, diesel by 9.75 percent and eggs by 9.40 percent.
A decrease was observed in the prices of garlic, which were down by 29.90percent, pulse gram by 28.23 percent, chicken by 26.3 2percent, electricity charges for Q1 by 26.26 percent, onions by 26.06 percent, potatoes by 19.65 percent, Lipton tea by 17.93 percent, pulse mash by 16.58 percent, pulse masoor by 3.66 percent, and LPG by 3.54 percent.
For households spending up to Rs17,732 per month, the SPI increased by 0.27 percent, rising to 330.27 from 329.37 points.
For the Rs17,732-22,888 bracket, the SPI rose by 0.26 percent to 327.72, up from 326.88 points. Those in the Rs22,889-29,517 expenditure group saw a 0.23 percent increase to 350.04 from 349.23 points. The Rs29,518 to 44,175 bracket registered a 0.24 percent rise, with the SPI at 336.76 compared to 335.97 points previously.
For households with monthly expenditures above Rs 44,175, the SPI recorded a 0.21 percent increase to 332.76 from 332.07 points. Whereas the combined expenditure SPI increased by 0.22 percent to 335.14 points compared to 334.39 points of the previous week.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
