Weekly inflation eases

[LahoreEstate]

ISLAMABAD, Jan 23: The weekly inflation eased by 0.14 per cent for the week ended on Jan 22 over the previous week, revealed data of Federal Bureau of Statistics issued on Friday.

However, the weekly inflation measured through the sensitive price index (SPI) surged by 22.93 per cent for the week ended on Jan 22 over the same week last year.

Though the weekly inflation had witnessed a substantial decline since September 2008 when it touched all time high of 34 per cent but any further decrease has been stagnated during the past few weeks.

The SPI witnessed an increase of 23.01 per cent and 23.45 per cent for households in income brackets of up to Rs3, 000 and Rs3, 001 to Rs5,000, respectively.

For households in the income brackets of Rs5,001 to 12,000, the increase was in the range of 23.89 per cent, and for households in the income basket of over Rs12, 000 inflation registered a growth of 22.39 per cent over the same week last year.

The prices of gur rose by 4.69 per cent to Rs44.18 per kg from Rs42.20, bread plain (mid size) by 2.19 per cent to Rs24.68 each from Rs24.15, LPG (11 Kg cylinder) by 2.01 per cent to Rs876.35 from Rs859.12 and bananas by 1.83 per cent to Rs35.06 per dozen from Rs34.43 during the week under review.

Sugar price went up by 1.60 per cent to Rs40.10 per kg from Rs39.47, electric bulb 60 (WATS) by 1.46 per cent to Rs14.61 each from Rs14.40, rice irri-6, 1.18 per cent to Rs36.79 per kg against Rs36.36 and rice basmati (broken) by 1.06 per cent to Rs44.99 per kg against Rs44.52.

Gram pulse (washed) price increased by 0.85 per cent to Rs60.60 per kg from Rs60.09, masoor (washed) by 0.83 per cent to Rs130.33 per kg against Rs129.26, kerosene by 0.41 per cent to Rs64.21 per litre from Rs63.95 and chicken (farm) by 0.37 per cent to Rs90.68 per kg from Rs90.35.

The price of tea (prepared) was up by 0.35 per cent to Rs8.53 per cup from Rs8.50, mutton by 0.23 per cent to Rs258.97 per kg from Rs258.38, firewood by 0.22 per cent to Rs267.79 per kg from Rs267.21, cooked beef plate by 0.10 per cent to Rs40.44 each from Rs40.40 and cooking oil up by 0.05 per cent to Rs351.71 per 2.5 litre from Rs351.53.

http://www.dawn.com/2009/01/24/ebr3.htm