The bureau registered the Combined Producer Price Index for Manufacturing (PPI-M) at 23.6% for the year ending April 2011. This is the highest rise measured in the price of goods by manufacturers since 2004, the year the bureau commenced with the compilation of the indices.
The Producer Price Index is a positive number that measures changes in prices charged by producers for the goods manufactured. It is commonly referred to as the Factory Gate Price.
The month to month changes recorded the PPI-M increase at 1.2% in April after an increase of 2% in March this year.
According to Ms. Imelda Musana Atai, the UBOS Head of Business and Industry Statistics, the drivers of the 23.6% producer price rise was a 33.5% increase in processed food, 39% surge in chemical products, an 18% upward trend for metal products as well as a 9.4% rise in bricks and cement.
The month to month increase was due to a 6.2% rise in textiles and clothing, 2.8% increase in metal products, and a 1.1% shoot up in processed food.
For the construction sector, Mr. Peter Opio the UBOS Principal Statistician, Energy and Infrastructure, indicated that there was an annual whole sector price index rise of 19% for the construction works for the year ending April 2011 compared to April 2010.
He attributed it to a 16% rise in residential buildings, 19% increase in non residential buildings and a 21% surge in civil works.
“The rise was due to increases in the prices of diesel, wages, cement, timber, electrical wires, burnt clay bricks and tiles and iron and steel,” said Opio.
Opio noted the depreciation of the Uganda Shilling against the United States dollar, increases in price of imported raw materials, the increased world market prices for crude oil and high fuel costs as one of the contributors to the surge in the construction sector indices.
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I think ugandan government should put restrictions on imports because they cause impirted inflation