ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: Weekly inflation inched back slightly for all income groups dunng the week ended on Dec 8 over the previous week owing mainly to decline in food prices with significant weight in the basket.

The Sensitive Price Index (SPI), based inflation monitor registered a drop of 0.14 per cent for the combined income group in the said period, the data released by the Federal Bureau of Statististics (FBS) said here Saturday.

`The decline has been in the prices of onions, sugar, chicken and other edible items, as there are no marriages and grand functions during Muharram,` said an economist of the Planning Commission.

During the week, the maximum impact of decline in the SPI inflation has been enjoyed by the lowest income group earning less than Rs8,000 per month, and the SPI dropped by 0.21 per cent for this group.

The SPI witnessed a decrease of 0.20 per cent and 0.18 per cent, for income brackets of Rs8001 to Rs12,000 and Rs12,001 to Rs18,000, respectively, while for the income brackets of Rs18,001 to 35,000, the decline in the SPI was in the range of 0.15 per cent during the week.

The impact of drop in prices was the lowest at 0.10 per cent for the highest income group of over Rs35,000 per month, during the week under review.

`This is because that people in the lowest income group spend a major part of their earnings on food items, the economist said.

However, for the combined income group the SPI inflation ending on Dec 8, 2011 has shown an increase of 5.24 per cent against corresponding period of last year.

The prices of 10 items declined and these all are related with food. The price of sugar decreased by 5.36 per cent to Rs56.15 per kg during the week under review, as the new crushing season starts.

Similarly the average price of onions declined by 5.24 per cent to Rs40.50 per kg, live farm chicken was priced at Rs123.62 per kg, gur at Rs78.65 per kg, garlic Rs98.45 per kg, masoor washed Rs103.18 per kg, red chillies powder Rs319.67 kg, and basmati rice broken Rs59.92 per kg, rice irri-6 Rs44.91 per kg, and moong washed Rs127.10 per kg.

During the week, the average price of 19 items increased and the average price of tomatoes was Rs59.33 per kg, 11.8 kg LPG cylinder Rs1,363.53, eggs farm per dozen Rs95.15, firewood 40kg Rs439.44, bananas per dozen Rs48.50, georgette cloth per metre Rs85.68, milk fresh per litre Rs57.46, long cloth Rs96.24 per metre, gram pulse washed Rs71.96 per kg, curd Rs67.17 per kg, potatoes Rs25.03 per kg, mutton Rs479.29 per kg, wheat Rs27.20 per kg, wheat flour Rs30.52 per kg, mash pulse washed Rs146.54 per kg, mustard oil Rs178.46 per kg, kerosene oil Rs102.86 per litre, vegetable ghee lose Rs160.27 per kg and lawn cloth Rs103.06 per metre.

During the week under review, prices of 24 items remained the same as in the previous week.