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ISLAMABAD: After record inflation of 45.5% recorded last week on an annual basis (YoY), inflation has decelerated slightly this week to 42.7%.
Weekly inflation as measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) showed a slight decline of 0.58pc on a weekly basis (WoW) which ended on September 8, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics ( PBS) Friday.
Before that, the biggest increase ever in the SPI year-on-year was 45.50pc recorded for the week ending September 1 and 44.58pc recorded for the week ending August 25 and 42.31 pc the week ending August 18.
The latest data shows that the SPI fell slightly week-on-week, mainly due to a significant drop in food prices, especially tomatoes and onions, due to imports from Afghanistan. and Iran. The biggest increase in inflation on WoW was recorded at 3.68% for the week ending July 28th.
Soaring vegetable prices due to damage to standing crops and a massive hike in electricity tariffs also contributed to the price hike. Damage to standing crops will drive up vegetable prices in the coming weeks.
An increase was observed in the prices of LPG (10.66 pc), wheat flour (4.15 pc), eggs (3.96 pc), bread (3.27 pc), pulses (2.74 pc), curd (2.72 pc), lipton tea (2.50 pc). pc), legumes (1.65 pc), chicken (1.58 pc), fresh milk (1.57 pc), firewood (1.54 pc) and potatoes (1.02 pc).
Year-over-year, items with the biggest jump in price included tomatoes (144.25pc), diesel (114.08pc), gasoline (98.73pc), masoor pulses (76.34 pc), cooking oil 5 liters (67.99 pc), mustard oil (66.53 pc), LPG (64.98 pc), laundry soap (64.50 pc), electricity (63.03 pc), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (62.53 pc), pulse gram (61.02 pc), onions (59.97 pc) and vegetable ghee 1 kg (58.19 pc).
Meanwhile, the government has waived import duties and taxes on tomatoes and onions. The duty and tax relief per kg will be almost Rs10, while the impact on tomatoes will be negligible. However, the import of these products will further accelerate in the coming days.
In its latest staff report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said average consumer price index (CPI) inflation is expected to climb to 20% in the current fiscal year (FY23) while that core inflation would also remain high due to the rise in energy. the prices and the fall of the rupee
The SPI monitors the prices of 51 essential items based on a survey of 50 markets in 17 cities across the country. During the week under review, the prices of 26 items out of 51 rose, 9 fell and 16 remained stable.
