ISLAMABAD: Inflation measured through Sensitive Price Index (SPI) posted an increase of 0.20 per cent for the week ended on Oct 14 driven by a sharp rise in the prices of essential food items, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

       This is the second consecutive week which witnessed an increased. In September, the highest jump of 1.3pc in weekly inflation was recorded.

       For the lowest income group earning below Rs17,732 per month, the SPI increased by 0.15pc and for the group earning above Rs44,175, it rose by 0.25pc.

       This was mainly due to an increase in prices of essential items including tomatoes 19.21pc, mustard oil 3.12pc, tea prepared 2.12pc, LPG 2.07pc, washing soap 1.98pc, cooked daal 1.55pc, tea Lipton 1.48pc and cooked beef 1.32pc.

       Items which saw a decrease in prices during the week included sugar 6.28pc, eggs 3.80pc, pulse moong 3.03pc, onions 1.61pc, chicken 1.47pc, pulse gram 0.94pc, bananas 0.93pc, wheat flour bag 0.91pc, pulse masoor 0.58pc and pulse mash 0.56pc.

       During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 22 items increased while 10 items decreased. Prices of 19 items remained constant.

       Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2021