Year-over-year change in prices at the wholesale/producer level — what it costs businesses to buy goods before they ever reach a retail shelf, and a leading signal for where retail (CPI) inflation is headed.
Source: SBP EasyData / Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, monthly, year-over-year.
The Wholesale Price Index tracks price changes at the wholesale and producer level — the cost of goods as they move between producers, importers, and wholesalers — rather than what a consumer pays at a retail shop, which is what CPI measures.
Because WPI captures raw material, fuel, and imported input costs earlier in the supply chain, it tends to move ahead of CPI: a rise in wholesale prices today often shows up as higher retail prices a month or two later, once businesses pass the added cost through.
Pakistan's WPI basket is weighted heavily toward industrial inputs, imported raw materials, and fuel — making it especially sensitive to Rupee depreciation and global commodity price swings, since a large share of the underlying goods are either imported directly or made from imported inputs.
WPI is one of the earliest available signals of building retail inflation pressure — a sustained rise here, before it shows up in CPI, gives businesses, policymakers, and consumers a preview of what's coming.
Because WPI is so exposed to imported input costs, it's a direct barometer of exchange rate pass-through: when the Rupee weakens or global fuel/commodity prices spike, WPI typically reacts faster and more sharply than the broader CPI basket.