Weekly inflation: prices of 15 essential commodities go up

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has released its weekly inflation report, which shows that the prices of 15 essential commodities increased, while the prices of nine items decreased and 27 items remained stable in the country.

According to the report, the price sensitive index (PSI), which measures the inflation rate for low-income groups, rose by 0.37% on a weekly basis and 43.25% on an annual basis.

The PSI is calculated for five income groups, ranging from Rs 17,732 to above Rs 44,175 per month.

The report revealed that the highest increase in the PSI was recorded for the lowest income group (0.40%), followed by the second lowest (0.41%), the third lowest (0.38%), the fourth lowest (0.39%), and the highest income group (0.35%).

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The report also showed that the most expensive items on a weekly basis were onion (15.21%), chicken (4.76%), dal mung (2.90%), gram dal (2.89%), and sugar (1.35%).

On the other hand, the items that saw a decrease in their prices were potato (8.66%), tomato (1.01%), vegetable oil (0.61%), cooking oil (0.44%), and eggs (0.40%).

The PBS monitors the prices of 51 essential commodities in 50 markets of 17 major cities of the country to determine the PSI.

The report is issued every Thursday to provide timely information on the inflation trends to the policymakers and the public.