ISLAMABAD: The weekly inflation, measured by Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), witnessed an increase of 1.8 per cent to jump to 46.65pc on a year-on-year basis for the week ended on March 22, according to a report issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Of the 51 items tracked, the prices of 26 items increased, 12 items decreased, whereas those of 13 items remained stable.
During the week under review, the items whose prices increased the most compared to the previous year were Tomatoes (71.77%), Wheat Flour (42.32%), Potatoes (11.47%), Bananas (11.07%), Tea Lipton (7.34%), Pulse Mash (1.57%), Tea Prepared (1.32%) and Gur (1.03%), non-food items, Georgette (2.11%), Lawn (1.77%) and Long Cloth (1.58%).
The products whose prices dropped the most compared to the previous week were Chicken (8.14%), Chillies Powdered (2.31%), LPG (1.31%), Mustard Oil & Garlic (1.19%) each, Pulse Gram & Onions (1.06%) each, Vegetable Ghee 1 Kg (0.83%), Cooking Oil 5 litre (0.21%), Pulse Moong (0.17%), Pulse Masoor (0.15%) and Eggs (0.03%).
Read more: SBP likely to jack up interest rate to unlock IMF loan
The upward trend of inflation continues as Islamabad was taking measures to get the $1.1 billion IMF tranche under the Extended Fund Facility.
Earlier. it emerged that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is likely to raise the interest rate by 2 per cent at the upcoming meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to unlock the stalled IMF loan program.