ISLAMABAD: Inflation measured through the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) posted an increase of 0.08 per cent for the week ended on January 6 driven by a sharp increase in the prices of essentialfood and nonfood items, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

The PBS data showed that SPI-based inflation posted a positive growth after a decline past week. In November, the highest jump of 1.81pc in weekly inflation was recorded.

For the lowest income group earning below Rs17,732 per month, the SPI decreased by 0.28pc and for the group earning above Rs44,175, it increased by 0.22pc.

The overall increase was mainly due to an increase of 5.23pc in potato price, followed by chicken 4.45pc, bananas 2.56pc, onions 2.12pc, pulse masoor 1.55pc, pulse gram 1.46pc and pulse mash 1.44pc. In non-food items, price of diesel and salt increased by 2.75pc each, petrol 2.68pc and match box 1.45pc.

The items whose prices decreased during the week included tomatoes 18.28pc, chilies powdered 14.54pc, eggs 2.23pc, LPG 0.96pc, rice Irri 0.17pc, wheat flour 0.06pc and mustard oil 0.05pc. During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 25 items increased, seven items decreased and 19 items remained constant.