ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), recorded a year-on-year increase of 24.37 per cent in the week ending on May 2.

It is the lowest SPI reading in 97 weeks since June 16, 2022 (27.82pc year-on-year).

However, it witnessed a 1pc decline week-on-week due to easing essential food items and petrol prices, according to data released on Friday by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

The real impact of the fall in petrol prices on commodities will be visible in the next review.

The deceleration is due to three factors: the high base last year, no increase in the discount rate and stability in global commodity prices.

The low rate did not mean prices did not increase during the week under review.

In March, the decline in SPI came after a consistent 11-week period of inflation above 40pc, which surged from 29pc recorded on Nov 8, 2023. 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 Aug 2023 before surging past 40pc during the week ending Nov 16, 2023.

The items whose prices saw the declined week-on-week included tomatoes (22.05pc), chicken (8.03pc), onions (7.71pc), wheat flour (6.88pc), bananas (5.25pc), diesel (2.89pc), chillies powder (2.59pc), LPG (2.36pc), petrol (1.84pc), pulse masoor (1.25pc) and pulse moong (0.90pc).

The items whose prices increased the most over the previous week included potatoes (6.06pc), salt powder (0.91pc), garlic (0.85pc), powdered milk (0.70pc), mutton (0.65pc), eggs (0.53pc), cigarettes (0.51pc), curd (0.46pc) and beef (0.45pc).

However, on an annual basis, the items whose prices increased the most included gas charges for Q1 (570pc), onions (145.15pc), tomatoes (79.43pc), garlic (72.46pc), chillies powder (71.96pc), salt powder (33.07pc), energy saver (29.83pc), shirting (29.71pc), gents sandal (25.01pc), pulse mash (24.72pc), gur (24.49pc) and beef (23.96pc).

In contrast, the prices of bananas dropped 37.76pc followed by wheat flour (23.15pc), cooking oil 5-litre (20.45pc), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (17.10pc), vegetable ghee 1 kg (16.75pc), mustard oil (12.74pc), eggs (10.46pc), LPG (8.52pc), chicken (3.99pc) and diesel (2.04pc).

The SPI stood at 316.95 compared to 320.14 the preceding week and 254.84 a year ago.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2024