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SPI rises by 18 per cent [The News] 09 Feb, 2010
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| |  | | SPI rises by 18 per cent | | | | Tuesday, February 09, 2010
By By Israr Khan
| ISLAMABAD: Inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), covering 53 kitchen items of daily use rose by 18.18 per cent in the week which ended on February 4 compared to the corresponding week of the last fiscal year.
It appears that the government has no policy and no administrative powers to control the skyrocketing inflation which is badly affecting lives of the people. At present, Pakistan is passing through a very critical economic and political situation. Instead of adopting a unified line of action to cope with the challenges facing the country, the political parties are engaged in power struggles of their own.
According to the Federal Bureau of Statistics latest SPI data, year-on-year increase in prices of some necessities and kitchen items was very high. It says in a short span of one week, petrol price went up by 9.3 per cent to Rs72.08 per litre, chicken by 5 per cent to Rs123 per kg, diesel 5 per cent to Rs72.51 per litre, kerosene 4 per cent to Rs75.25 a litre, gur 2 per cent to Rs74 a kg and moong pulse 1 per cent to Rs85 a kg over the previous week.
On year-on-year basis, prices of some items rose very high. These included sugar, fresh milk, gur, curd, beef, mutton, chicken, vegetable ghee, potato, firewood and all types of pulses. The SPI, based on data collected from 17 centres, showed that 20 items registered an increase in prices, 11 recorded a decline and 22 remained unchanged.
Further analysis of the data revealed that on year-on-year basis, some items got dearer by double digits. These included moong pulse which was rose by 76 per cent, mash pulse by 76 percent, sugar by 62 per cent, gur by 59 per cent, LPG by 28 per cent, diesel by 26 per cent, petrol by 24 per cent, beef by 22 per cent, mutton by 22 per cent, potatoes by 20 percent, chicken by 19 per cent, kerosene by 18 per cent, vegetable ghee fell by 16 per cent, fresh milk by 14 per cent and firewood by 12 per cent over the corresponding week of the last fiscal year. Gas and electricity charges also rose by 15.45 per cent and 21.4 per cent respectively over the same week of the last year.
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