ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week ending August 29, 2024, saw a decline of 0.62%, marking the third consecutive weekly drop, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.
The PBS report highlighted notable price decreases in key commodities, including chicken (down 3.02%), bananas (down 2.35%), chili powder (down 1.42%), wheat flour (down 0.85%), masoor pulse (down 0.68%), bread (down 0.56%), mash pulse (down 0.53%), and sugar (down 0.49%).
Conversely, price increases were observed for tomatoes (up 8.03%), onions (up 6.53%), gram pulse (up 2.20%), garlic (up 1.76%), potatoes (up 0.63%), eggs (up 0.55%), LPG (up 0.51%), gur, and basmati broken rice (both up 0.41%), firewood (up 0.12%), and shirting (up 0.07%).
During the week, out of 51 monitored items, 17 (33.33%) saw price increases, 10 (19.61%) experienced price decreases, and 24 (47.06%) remained unchanged.
On a year-on-year basis, the SPI registered at 15.3%, the lowest in 27 months, according to Topline Securities. The SPI is calculated weekly to monitor the price trends of essential goods, providing a short-term view of inflation in the country.
