The Retail Prices Index (RPI) measures the changes from month to month in the cost of a ‘basket’ of goods and services bought by a typical household. At the beginning of each year the weights used to compile the RPI are updated using the latest available information on spending patterns, which mainly comes from the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS). This article describes the sources for these weights, explains why weights are important and provides a brief explanation for the changes to these weights between 2002 and 2003.
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