Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) in a report based on data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has stated that the main cause of this week’s inflation has been the highest ever-rising petroleum prices.
According to the report, this week’s inflation was the highest after the increase of Rs84 in Petrol, and Rs115 in Diesel prices along with electricity tariffs increased by 50 percent. The year-on-year increase of SPI has been recorded to be 27.82 percent.
According to the PBS data, prices of 36 essential food items increased during the week.
The price of chicken went up by 12.10%, potatoes by 6.89%, pulse gram by 5.29%, beef by 5.19%, vegetable ghee by 4.95%, bread plain by 4.37%, pulse masoor by 3.50%, cooking oil by 2.87%, pulse mash by 1.7%, beef with bone by 1.50%. Rice, pulses, milk and other food items also saw an increase in prices. The price of cigarettes increased by 6.27%.
According to SPI lowest income group increased by 2.85 percent with monthly income below Rs17,732 and by 3.10 percent with monthly income above Rs44,175.
Former finance minister and renowned economist Senator Shaukat Tareen, in a social media message, has strongly criticized the government for the increase in inflation. He said that despite increasing petroleum and electricity prices the government has not been able to finalize the deal with the IMF.
