There is a link between fluctuation in the prices of daily-use food items and the level of good governance, nationally and locally. The task of recording variations in prices of daily-use items therefore should not be left alone to the government. The Pakistan Household Integrated Economic Survey is a government initiative and has attracted criticisms related to conflict of interest and credibility. For this reason, Free and Fair election Network (FAFEN) has launched a Household Expenditure Pattern study.
FAFEN’s field staff conducts a survey of market prices of 70 food and non-food items each month. These items fall in 12 categories, namely: [1] food grains, [2] grams/pulses, [3] spices, [4] oil/oil seeds, [5] sweets, [6] vegetables/fruit/dry fruit, [7] milk/milk products, [8] meat/poultry, [9] prepared food, [10] toiletries/laundry, [11] petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) products/fuel/energy, and [12] medicine/medical facilities. Province-wise details of average prices for these 70 items are shown in the annex.
The FAFEN Household Expenditure Patterns study seeks to record the impact of variations in the market prices of these 70 commodities on average household expenditure.
April 2010 Data
The April 2010 analysis is based on data received from 134 field survey forms of 85 districts of Pakistan. This includes 58 forms received from 30 districts of Punjab, 30 forms from 22 districts of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, 11 forms from 11 districts of Baluchistan, 31 forms from 19 districts of Sindh, 3 forms from 2 districts of FATA and 1 form from Islamabad Capital Territory.
Average Household Expenditure
A comparison of overall expenditure based on 70 commodities including nine basic commodities is given in Graph 1. According to FAFEN’s data, average household expenditure for the month of April 2010 is Rs 8,583 nationwide. As shown in Graph 1, the highest average household expenditure is in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (Rs 9,515), followed by Balochistan (Rs 9,287), Sindh (Rs 8,028) and Punjab (Rs 7,951).
Share of Nine Basic Commodities in Household Expenditure
As shown in Graph 1 and Table 1, the share of prices of nine basic commodities in the average national household expenditure is Rs. 3,926 which is 46 percent of the total average national household expenditure. The highest share of basic commodities in household expenditure is reported in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, where its contribution to the household expenditure is Rs. 4,685 (49 percent), followed by Balochistan at Rs. 4,489 (48 percent) and Punjab at Rs. 3,763 (47 percent). Basic commodities have the lowest share in Sindh, where they cost Rs. 3,717 and contribute 46 percent to the average household expenditure.
Table 1: Average Household Expenditure on Nine Basic Commodities by Province (in Rs.)
|
Basic Commodities  |
Punjab  |
Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa  |
Balochistan |
Sindh |
Pakistan |
|||||
|
1 |
Wheat Flour |
1,927.2 |
2,362.5 |
2,282.7 |
1,954.9 |
2,013.7 |
||||
|
2 |
Rice |
204.5 |
279.1 |
261.7 |
181.6 |
216.1 |
||||
|
3 |
Sugar |
412.0 |
514.3 |
501.6 |
410.9 |
431.8 |
||||
|
4 |
Vegetable Ghee |
529.8 |
628.9 |
587.2 |
493.7 |
535.0 |
||||
|
5 |
Onions |
215.4 |
271.6 |
245.6 |
175.2 |
215.5 |
||||
|
6 |
Milk Fresh |
124.8 |
182.1 |
162.9 |
143.1 |
141.9 |
||||
