<p>This means items of daily use did not experience price increases as much as items that are not of daily use.</p>

<p>Let's say half expenditures are on items of daily use. Then an increase of 2.2 percentage points will make these contribute 1.1 percentage points in total inflation. To make numbers match, the remaining 3.4 percentage points of total inflation must then have been contributed by a 6.8 percentage point price increase in items not of daily use.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-15T09:52:23.163Z
Note: I made a bunch of implicit assumptions on how these numbers by the central bank publication have been obtained. The general intuition should stay the same irrespective of how the numbers have been calculated.
HRSE
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-15T09:52:02.810Z
2016-02-15T09:52:02.810Z
HRSE
<p>When googling "items of daily use" together with inflation I only found the Central Bank of Pakistan using such expression. Your quote comes from <a href="http://www.sbp.org.pk/Reports/Annual/arFY15/InflationMonetary.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this report</a>. There, you find in footnote 36 the following:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>This sub-group includes wheat flour, rice, chicken, fresh milk, vegetable ghee, sugar, tea, potatoes, onion, tomatoes, fresh
  vegetables, fresh fruits, five pluses, water supply, electricity, gas, kerosene oil, cotton cloth, utensils, washing soap &amp;
  detergent, transport services, postal services and text books.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In that same report you find other goods/services which are not included in that category, like house rent,  government college and university fee, restaurants, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, etc.</p>

<p>I think this categorisation is rather arbitrary, and as I said, might only be used in Pakistan. In any case, if you want to give school children a rough idea, I would summarise it as "<em>things for which people pay day after day, including food like rice, milk, tea (etc), or mobilisation like bus tickets, kerosene oil (etc), and it does not include things for which people pay only occasionally, like restaurants and college fee</em>". Given the information I've given above, you can come up with a better phrase, more suitable for your (and school children's) context. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-04T06:48:14.317Z
2017-09-04T06:48:14.317Z
luchonacho
<p>I was reading a document released by our Central Bank and I came across this line:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Finally, inflation in the items of daily use was much lower as
  compared to other items. The contribution of essential items of daily
  use was only 1.1 percentage points in the overall inflation of 4.5 %
  in FY15.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>What does this mean in very simple terms? How do I explain this to school going children, for example?</p>

<inflation>
Inflation in items of daily use
user151193
# Inflation in items of daily use

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-02-15)

I was reading a document released by our Central Bank and I came across this line:

> Finally, inflation in the items of daily use was much lower as
> compared to other items. The contribution of essential items of daily
> use was only 1.1 percentage points in the overall inflation of 4.5 %
> in FY15.

What does this mean in very simple terms? How do I explain this to school going children, for example?

**Tags:** inflation


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-02-15. Score: 2

This means items of daily use did not experience price increases as much as items that are not of daily use.

Let's say half expenditures are on items of daily use. Then an increase of 2.2 percentage points will make these contribute 1.1 percentage points in total inflation. To make numbers match, the remaining 3.4 percentage points of total inflation must then have been contributed by a 6.8 percentage point price increase in items not of daily use.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Note: I made a bunch of implicit assumptions on how these numbers by the central bank publication have been obtained. The general intuition should stay the same irrespective of how the numbers have been calculated.  

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### Answer by username_2 on 2017-09-04. Score: 0

When googling "items of daily use" together with inflation I only found the Central Bank of Pakistan using such expression. Your quote comes from [this report](http://www.sbp.org.pk/Reports/Annual/arFY15/InflationMonetary.pdf). There, you find in footnote 36 the following:

> This sub-group includes wheat flour, rice, chicken, fresh milk, vegetable ghee, sugar, tea, potatoes, onion, tomatoes, fresh
> vegetables, fresh fruits, five pluses, water supply, electricity, gas, kerosene oil, cotton cloth, utensils, washing soap &
> detergent, transport services, postal services and text books.

In that same report you find other goods/services which are not included in that category, like house rent, government college and university fee, restaurants, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, etc.

I think this categorisation is rather arbitrary, and as I said, might only be used in Pakistan. In any case, if you want to give school children a rough idea, I would summarise it as "*things for which people pay day after day, including food like rice, milk, tea (etc), or mobilisation like bus tickets, kerosene oil (etc), and it does not include things for which people pay only occasionally, like restaurants and college fee*". Given the information I've given above, you can come up with a better phrase, more suitable for your (and school children's) context.


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