Pakistan
Official title
Combined Consumer Price Index.
Scope
The index is compiled monthly and covers industrial, commercial and
government employees in four monthly income groups: up to 1,000 rupees,
1,001 to 2,500 rupees, 2,501 to 4,500 rupees, and over 4,500 rupees.
The index covers 25 important urban centres.
Official base
July 1980-June 1981 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights are based on the results of the household expenditure survey
conducted in 1982 in 46 urban centres including 25 major urban centres,
among a sample of 26,864 households. Index items were selected to
be representative of the tastes, habits and customs of the people,
easily recognisable and describable and unlikely to vary in quality.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food and tobacco
| 176 | 49.90 | ...
|
| Clothing and footwear
| 73 | 6.68 | ...
|
| Rent
| 1 | 17.76 | ...
|
| Fuel and light
| 15 | 5.62 | ...
|
| Furniture and household equipment
| 38 | 2.34 | ...
|
| Transport and communication
| 44 | 6.20 | ...
|
| Education and recreation
| 44 | 3.50 | ...
|
| Cleaning products and personal care
| 45 | 5.56 | ...
|
| Miscellaneous
| 28 | 2.44 | ...
|
| Total
| 464 | 100.00 | (a) ...
|
Note: (a) There are about four quotations for each item from different shops in
each shopping area.
Household consumption expenditure
Consumption expenditure for the purpose of the index comprises all the
important goods and services purchased for consumption by the index
population. It excludes non-consumption expenditure, house purchase,
interest charges, jewellery and all forms of assets and liabilities.
Method of data collection
Field staff of the Federal Bureau of Statistics collect prices from
market areas, selected retail stores and service establishments in 46
urban centres including 25 major cities. Prices are collected using four
schedules. Prices of basic consumption goods and perishable food items
such as meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, etc. are collected on the third
Tuesday of each month. Prices of other items are collected each month.
The prices used in the index are prices at which retailers and
service establishments sell their goods and services direct to
consumers.
Housing
Current rent data are not available on a country-wise basis; changes
in the price of input construction items are used as an indicator of
rent trends.
Specification of varieties
Most of the specifications of items priced were defined by the
Statistics Division of the Federal Bureau of Statistics. If it was
not possible to establish specifications for certain items, the
local best quality is used.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
The Statistics Division examines all proposals by the field staff for
substitution when an item is not available at all or when it is not
available according to the specification or unit. If the use of a
substitute is accepted, it is introduced in the index by a
method of linking.
Seasonal items
Seasonal items show a wide range of variation between in-season and
off-season prices. To remove this variation, arrangements
have been made in the programming for computating these indices
to keep the prices of such items at zero in their off season.
Computation
The index is computed according to the Laspeyres formula as a weighted
arithmetic average with fixed base, using weights corresponding to 1982.
Weights for various cities provided by the household income and
expenditure survey were used to compute city indices for
three categories of employees and four income groups.
The national index is computed by using a combined set of weights
that ignores the distinction between cities, occupational categories
and income groups.
Organisation and publication
Federal Bureau of Statistics, Statistics Division:
Monthly Statistical Bulletin
(Karachi).
Idem: Pakistan Key Economic Indicators
.
Idem: Consumer Price Index Numbers of Pakistan 1980-81 = 100
.