July-February CPI inflation surges by 23.49 percent

[LahoreEstate]

RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD (March 12 2009): The CPI inflation surged by 23.49 percent during July-February 2008-09 over the same period of last year, according to Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS). Official figures released by the FBS here on Wednesday showed that inflation measured through Consumer Price Index (CPI), Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) surged by 0.95, 0.85 and 0.66 percent respectively in February 2008-09 over the previous month.

The food inflation remained as high as 22.90 percent in February over the same period of last year while inflation of non-perishable was recorded 25.06 percent. Analysis of the data showed that cost of apparel, textile and foot wear increased by 15.37 percent, house rent 18.53 percent, fuel and lighting 29.77 percent, household, furniture and equipment 14.68 percent, transport and communication 21.47 percent, recreation and entertainment14.02 per cent, education 17.97 percent, cleansing laundry and personal appearance 18.27 percent and Medicare cost by 14.18 percent.

The main commodities, which showed an increase in CPI during February 2009 over January, 2009 in Food & beverages included onions (31.72%), chicken farm (22.51%), tomatoes (21.68%), sugar (7.12%), honey (6.82%), gur (6.66%), eggs (6.29%), cigarettes (3.61%), fresh fruits (3.57%), readymade food (1.53%), dry fruit (1.48%), cereals (1.36%), bakery & confectionery (1.30%), betel leaves & nuts (1.21%) and fish (0.97%).

In apparel, textile & footwear sector woollen readymade garments price increased by (1.07%) and tailoring charges (0.71%) while in fuel & lighting, natural gas price increased by (6.68%). In household, furniture & equipment the cost of marriage hall charges increased by (1.71%), sewing machine, clock & needles (1.47%), utensils (1.40%), furniture readymade (1.01%) and household servant (0.84%).

The price of vehicles, tyre and tube surged by (4.94%) (1.08%) respectively while recreation by (2.75%). In education the charges of stationery surged by (2.67%). The Wholesale price Index (WPI) increased by 24.70 % in July-February over the same period of last year with food inflation in WPI 21.99 per cent, raw materials 19.89 per cent, cost of building material going up by 20.11 per cent.

The main commodities which showed increase in WPI during February 2009 over January 2009 are onions (37.05%), tomatoes (25.55%), chicken (19.51%), fresh fruits (7.76%), sugar refined (6.97%), bajra (5.88%), gur (3.87%), salt (3.86%), eggs (3.80%), maize (2.60%), meat (1.36%), jowar (1.20%) and mineral water (0.94%).

In raw materials the price of sugar cane increased by (6.73%), cotton (3.35%), cotton seed (1.27%), tobacco (1.19%) and wool (0.84%). Fuel, lighting & lubricants: Natural gas (3.90%) and firewood (1.09%).

In manufactures the price of glass products surged by (7.30%), cotton yarn (6.59%), nylon yarn (5.49%), cosmetics (4.91%), blended yarn (2.48%), other electrical goods (1.29%) and audio visual (1.10%). The cost of paints & varnishes increased by (9.52%) in building materials, iron bars (3.55%), glass sheets (2.02%) and wires & cables (1.73%).

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