Surge in inflation: Prices of tomatoes, sugar, 23 other items increase

• The weekly inflation increases by 1.23% during the week ended October 28.
• Prices of four items, including onions, bananas and moong pulse decline.
• On a year-on-year basis, the inflation based on the SPI increased by 14.31%.

KARACHI: The weekly inflation, based on the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), for the week ending on October 28, registered an increase of 1.23% for the combined income group, going up from 161.46 points during the week that ended on October 21 to 163.44 points in the week under review.

According to the provisional figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the average prices of 25 essential items — including tomatoes, mustard oil, chicken, potatoes, cooking oil, and eggs, among others — rose during the outgoing week.

Prices of four items, including onions, bananas, moong pulse, and garlic declined. Meanwhile, the rates of 22 essential goods remained unchanged.

The bureau, in its weekly report, said that among food items, the price of tomatoes increased by a significant 11.42%. Meanwhile, prices of potatoes, sugar refined, eggs, mustard oil and chicken recorded an increase of 6.05%, 3.74%, 3.16%, 1.39%, and 1.09%, respectively.

Among non-food items, prices of LPG 11.67kg cylinder and electricity for Q1 rose by 3.89% and 2.98%.

During the week under review, the price of onions dropped by 5.49%, while the price of bananas, moong pulse (washed) and garlic recorded a decrease of 3.51%, 0.80%, and 0.38%, respectively.

The SPI for the lowest income group increased by 1.29% compared to the previous week. The index for the group stood at 174.06 points against 171.85 points in the previous week.

On a year-on-year basis, the inflation based on the SPI increased 14.31%.