Inflation gaining momentum, touches 10pc

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
By Israr Khan

ISLAMABAD: Inflation is slowly but steadily climbing up as the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) covering 53 daily-use kitchen items for the week ended on December 10 rose by 10.62 per cent compared with the corresponding week of last fiscal year.

Year-on-year increase in prices of some necessities and kitchen items was exorbitant. They included vegetable ghee, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), firewood, moong pulse, mash pulse, kerosene, sugar, gur, beef, mutton, fresh milk, curd, petrol and diesel.

According to the Federal Bureau of Statistics’ (FBS) SPI bulletin, the SPI, based on data collected from 17 centres, showed 12 items registered an increase in prices, 12 recorded a decline and 29 remained unchanged.

In a span of one week, prices of vegetable ghee (loose) went up by 2.30 per cent to Rs111 per kilogram, LPG by 2.13 per cent to Rs1,040, firewood by 1.49 per cent to Rs300 per 40kg over previous week. Further analysis of the data revealed that on year-on-year basis, some items are dearer by double digits.

They include; mash pulse which price increased by 68 per cent to Rs127 per kg, moong pulse 55 per cent to Rs76 per kg, LPG (11kg cylinder) 40 per cent to Rs1,040, vegetable ghee 22 per cent to Rs111 and kerosene by 15 per cent to Rs73 per liter over the corresponding week of the last fiscal. Prices of 12 items decreased, yet compared to the prices of the corresponding week of last year, items which showed an increase in their prices were; gur dearer by 79 per cent to Rs69 per kg and sugar up by 52 per cent to Rs55 per kg. Though the prices of 29 items remained unchanged, the prices of some items as compared to the corresponding week of the last year are still dearer by double digits.

These items include diesel 23 per cent to Rs71.19 per liter, beef 20 per cent to Rs171 per kg, mutton 17 per cent to Rs302/kg, petrol 15 per cent to Rs66.82/liter, fresh milk 15 per cent to Rs42/liter, tea packet 15 per cent to Rs124 per 250gm and curd price up by 13 per cent to Rs49 per kilogram.