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BEIJING, Dec 28 (Reuters): China will adjust the weightings in its consumer price index next month, an official from the statistics bureau said today, a move that analysts predict will boost the importance of the energy and the services sectors.
The move, part of a regular five-yearly adjustment to the index, follows China's 16.8 per cent upward revision of its 2004 economic output last week, based on a previously under-reported boom in services and privately run firms.
"None of the components of the consumer price index will change. We will only adjust their weightings," the official from the National Bureau of Statistics told newsmen on condition of anonymity.
He declined to give details on how the weightings would be adjusted but said changes were needed to better reflect shifts in domestic consumption patterns.
China's consumer price index is made up of components including food, housing, services and consumer goods.
Analysts say food accounts for the biggest share of the index, around 33 per cent, followed by housing, recreation and education at 15.1 per cent and services at 14.3 per cent.
Some analysts said they expected the upcoming adjustments to the index to reflect higher energy prices and the increased importance of services as a proportion of gross domestic product.
China's central bank has said that consumer price index in 2006 would be 2 per cent higher than this year.
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