By Irfan Ahmed ISLAMABAD, Jan. 20 (INP-Wealth) The sensitive price indicator (SPI) based inflation witnessed an increase of 19.82% during the week ending January 14 compared to the corresponding week of last year for the combined consumption group, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said. On a year-on-year basis, the commodities registering an increase in prices included cooking oil (53.49%), vegetable ghee (49.68%), washing soap & mustard oil (45.85%) each, pulse Masoor (39.14%). On the other hand, a major decrease was observed in the prices of tomato (40.82%), Pulse Moong (25.37%), chilies powder (6.71%) and sugar (0.40%). Some non-food items, including electricity (84.86pc), LPG (50.18%), petrol (36.13%) and diesel (28.07%), witnessed an increase in prices on a YoY basis. According to the PBS, the combined index was at 167.39 on January 13, 2022, compared with 168.12 on January 6, 2022, while the index was recorded at 139.70 on January 14, 2021. The chicken was one of the key commodities that helped lower weekly inflation, with prices dropping 3.40% on a week-on-week (WoW) basis. During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 16 (31.37%) items increased, 9 (17.65%) items decreased and 26 (50.98%) items remained stable. The weekly SPI with base year 2015-16=100 is covering 17 urban centers and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups. Meanwhile, compared to the previous week, the SPI for the combined consumption group in the week under review witnessed a mild decrease of 0.43%. Food commodities that saw a decline in prices included egg (2.99%), potato (1.65%), tomato (1.26%), wheat flour (0.61%), garlic (0.47%), sugar (0.17%) and curd (0.16%) and non-food item LPG (1.15%). For the combined group of people, a joint impact of (-0.38%) on the total SPI was found (-0.43%). On the other hand, an increase was observed in the prices of onion (14.65%), banana (1.51%), firewood (1.30%), match box (1.14%), mustard oil (0.95%), Pulse Masoor (0.91%), mutton (0.87%), Pulse Mash (0.60%), beef with bone (0.50%), Pulse Gram (0.43%), milk fresh (0.37%), soap (0.34%), gur (0.18%), rice (0.07%) and Pulse Moong (0.05%). Alternatively, the prices of 26 items remained stable including Rice Basmati Broken, bread plain, powdered milk, cooking oil, Dalda ghee, salt powdered, chilies powder, tea Lipton Yellow Label, beef, cigarette packets, electricity charges for Q1 per unit, gas charges up to 3.3719 MMBTU, washing soap, Petrol Super per Liter, Hi-Speed Diesel per Liter, telephone call charges, etc. The SPI for the lowest consumption group up to Rs17,732 observed a decrease of 0.30% and went down to 175.38 this week from 177.91 points last week. On a yearly basis, analysis of SPI change across different income segments showed that SPI increased across all quintiles ranging between 17.72% and 20.89%. Yearly inflation for the group having monthly income from Rs29,518 to Rs44,175 (Q4) increased by 17.72%, while the highest income group having monthly income above Rs44,175 recorded an increase of 20.10%. In addition, there are mild differences between the prices of Utility Stores Corporation and the open market (Jan. 13, 2021). The Utility Stores prices are comparatively lesser than the open market. The USC will give a special subsidy to the consumers on pluses, flour, sugar, rice, and ghee under the government relief package. The government has instructed the USC to reduce prices on a variety of items compared to the open market, including Atta 20KG for Rs210.85, Basmati Rice for Rs16, Masoor for Rs 83, Chana for Rs15, sugar for Rs 7.58, ghee for Rs90, Basmati Rice for Rs18, and Rice Sella for Rs20. Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics