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       ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), revised upward slightly and recorded an increase of 1.21 per cent year-on-year in the week ending Feb 20 owing to a rise in sugar prices.

       The SPI-based inflation rebounded after seven consecutive weeks of deceleration, mainly due to increased pulses, beef, egg and chicken prices.

       On week-on-week, the SPI rose 0.27pc, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.

       The overall short-term inflation has also slowed due to the higher base of last year. Moreover, the prices remained stable for most of the products, excluding wheat flour.

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       According to the PBS data, sugar exports surged to 757,597 tonnes in the first seven months of FY25 compared to 33,101 tonnes in the same months last year, an increase of 2,188pc.

       Millers have mainly exported sugar to Afghanistan. The price of sugar in the domestic market has also seen an unprecedented rise.

       Edible oil manufacturers have already raised their prices in recent weeks.

       The weekly inflation hit a record 48.35pc year-on-year in early May 2023, but then decelerated as low as 24.4pc in late August 2023 before surging past 40pc during the week ending Nov 16, 2023.

       The items whose prices saw an increase week-on-week included bananas (11.89pc), eggs (7.80pc), chicken (4.47pc), garlic (1.08pc), sugar (0.65pc), beef (0.52pc), cigarettes (0.49pc), mutton (0.22pc), pulse masoor (0.15pc) and washing soap (0.07pc).

       The items whose prices declined the most over the previous week included tomatoes (2.81pc), diesel (1.49pc), pulse gram (1.24pc), onions (1.16pc), potatoes (0.90pc), pulse mash (0.60pc), LPG (0.58pc), petrol (0.36pc), rice basmati broken (0.34pc), vegetable ghee 1 kg (0.32pc) and pulse moong (0.30pc).

       However, on an annual basis, the items whose prices increased the most included ladies sandal (75.09pc), pulse moong (28.07pc), pulse gram (26.20pc), powdered milk (25.84pc), bananas (24.15pc), beef (22.47pc), potatoes (20.71pc), garlic (19.18pc), vegetable ghee 1Kg (16.41pc), gas charges for Q1 (15.52pc), shirting (14.11pc) and firewood (12.73pc).

       In contrast, the prices of tomatoes dropped 58.82pc, followed by onions (49.86pc), wheat flour (37.05pc), chillies powder (20pc), electricity charges for Q1 (18.92pc), pulse mash (12.03pc), pulse masoor (11.43pc), rice basmati broken (9.15pc), diesel (8.07pc), rice IRRI-6/9 (7.60pc), petrol (6.97pc) and LPG (1.32pc).

       Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2025