ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Index, a key measure of short-term inflation, continued its decline for the third consecutive week, easing to 16.86% for the period ending August 8, according to official data released on Friday.
This drop reflects a year-on-year decrease largely influenced by the high base from the previous year. On a week-to-week basis, the SPI saw a modest reduction of 0.16%.
Inflation rates peaked at a record 48.35% year-on-year in early May 2023 but then moderated to 24.4% by late August before rising above 40% again in mid-November. The last instance of inflation exceeding 40% was recorded in late January.
In the past week, prices for several items fell, including onions (4.91%), petrol (3.15%), diesel (2.44%), wheat flour (1.83%), pulse moong (1.81%), chicken (1.57%), bananas (1.36%), LPG (0.90%), sugar (0.59%), potatoes (0.58%), and pulse masoor (0.56%).
Conversely, prices for certain products increased. Notable rises included tomatoes (34.77%), eggs (4.78%), garlic (1.99%), beef (0.88%), cooked beef (0.41%), georgette (0.40%), gur (0.39%), curd (0.32%), and mustard oil (0.28%).
The SPI, which tracks 51 items from 50 markets across 17 cities, is computed weekly to monitor the prices of essential goods and services.
The data for the review week indicated that 19 items saw price increases, 13 items experienced price decreases, and 19 items remained stable compared to the previous week.
