Guangzhou will soon increase the number of low-income households included in Consumer Price Index (CPI) calculations and release low-incomer earners' CPI figures. In future, the city will release two CPI figures, the currently released composite CPI and the new low-incomer earners' CPI.

Guangzhou residents watch the CPI closely. Many low-income households are feeling the pinch of rising commodity costs such as food and bottled gas and many are questioning whether the CPI has really only increased by 1.5% over last year. This question should be answered later this year with the release of the new low-incomer earners' CPI.

Due to the small rise in the current CPI, the impact on low-income groups has been hard to determine.

At a work conference, held earlier this year, representatives of the Guangzhou Commodity Price Bureau said that, in order to ensure social equality, it would collaborate with the statistics bureau to prepare a low-income earners' CPI, and that the government would provide appropriate subsidies for those with low incomes.

Editor: Yan