ISLAMABAD: Shortterm inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), recorded a negative growth of 0.87 per cent year-on-year in the week ending March 6 after almost seven years owing to a decline in the retail price of tea and perishable products.

Week-on-week, the SPI-based inflation declined 0.09pc, official data showed on Friday.

The overall short-term inflation has slowed due to the higher base of last year. Moreover, the prices remained stable for most products, excluding wheat flour.

However, the retail price of sugar and edible oil increased despite the decline in the international market.

The items whose prices saw a decline week-onweek included onions (5.59pc), tea Lipton (4.47pc), garlic (3.89pc), tomatoes (3.60pc), pulse gram (3.49pc), pulse mash (2.82pc), potatoes (2.60pc), diesel (2pc), pulse masoor (1.50pc) and petrol (0.24pc).

The items whose prices increased the most over the previous week included bananas (9.79pc), sugar (3.15pc), LPG (2.64pc), eggs (2.52pc), lawn (0.55pc), mutton (0.33pc), wheat flour (0.22pc), long cloth & gur (0.17pc) each, cigarettes & beef (0.06pc) each and rice IRRI-6/9 (0.01pc).

The prices of onions dropped 64.92pc, followed by tomatoes (57.05pc), wheat flour (36.81pc).

-Mubarak Zeb Khan