MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay's INE to update measuring of CPI

In Aboal's opinion, the update will allow “a more reliable reflection of the consumption pattern of Uruguayans”

Uruguay's National Institute of Statistics (INE) will change the way it measures inflation, starting in December 2022, it was announced in Montevideo this week. The new method means new products and services will be gauged while others are to be sidelined.

 The Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been calculated on the basis of the household expenditure and income survey for 2005, which will now be updated to the one conducted between 2016 and 2017.

Among the new items will be Uber services, which did not exist back in 2005, while items no longer traded, such as music cassettes, will no longer be counted, INE Director Diego Aboal explained. “These are normal renovations that have to be done to follow the products that are really relevant today and update that consumer base,” he stressed.

Not only do some categories change, but the number of products and stores taken into account to calculate inflation also increases.

The INE also said that October 2022 (in other words: October 2022 = 100) will mark the new reference for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) instead of December 2010, which shall be reflecting a picture closer to that of an Uruguayan household of today.

According to Ámbito, these changes need to be performed every 5 to 10 years.

INE's Nov. 4 report indicated it was “the last bulletin published with the 2010 base” and that “the one corresponding to November 2022, which will be published on December 5, will report the CPI variations with the new base.”

”This will mark the conclusion of a long-term work that began with the completion of the National Household Expenditure and Income Survey (ENGIH) 2016/2017,” it added.

The process was accompanied by the advice of experts from ECLAC, a United Nations (UN) agency.

In Aboal's opinion, the update will allow “a more reliable reflection of the consumption pattern of Uruguayans.”