Prices of 19 essential commodities witnessed an increase during last week, a news outlet reported on Monday.
The Sensitive Price Index (SBI) data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics depicts an increase in LPG price during past year of 65.43 percent, cooking oil 61.26 percent, vegetable ghee 58.14 percent, mustard oil 55.29 percent, washing soap 45.85 percent, petrol 44.35 percent, diesel 34.93 percent, gents sandal 33.37 percent and chilies 33 percent, while major decrease was observed in the prices of onions by 31.99 percent, tomatoes 27.61 percent, moong pulse 25.03 percent, potatoes 17.64 percent, chicken 12.8 percent and eggs 6.28 percent.
The SPI is computed on a weekly basis to assess the price movements of essential commodities at a shorter interval of time so as to review the price situation in the country.
The SPI comprises 51 essential items and the prices are collected from 50 markets in 17 cities of the country.
During the last week, out of 51 items, prices of 19 (37.25 percent) items increased, prices of 9 (17.65 percent) items decreased, and prices of 23 (45.10 percent) items remained stable.
The data showed a 3.34 percent increase in the price of bananas, 3.29 percent in masoor pulse, 2.83 percent in gram, 2.78 percent in mash pulse, 2.32 percent in moong, 2.19 percent in soap, 1.65 percent in onion and 1.17 percent in the price of match boxes during the week.
There was an overall 0.07 percent decline in the prices of essential commodities, including 13.37 percent in tomato price and 10.59 percent in chicken.
