ESO Releases the 2008 Consumer Price Index (CPI) Basket

"The ESO is pleased to release the 2008 Consumer Price Index (CPI) Basket Report."

The ESO is pleased to release the 2008 Consumer Price Index (CPI) Basket Report.

The 2008 CPI basket is intended to replace the current CPI basket which has been in use since September 1994. The latter was constructed from the expenditure data of the 1991 Household Income and Expenditure Survey as updated in 1994, whereas the 2008 CPI basket is based on the expenditure data from the 2007 Survey of Living Condition (SLC)/Household Budget Survey (HBS) as updated in 2008, supplemented by other statistical reports and surveys by the ESO.

The CPI basket consists of legal goods and services acquired from the market by households through their own means, excluding those acquired through subsidies or grants, for final current consumption. It excludes savings and financial assets which represent means of financing future consumption, and fixed assets such as structures and buildings.

The goods and services are classified according to the UN Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP). Changes in the retail prices of these goods and services between the base period and another period, or between any two periods, are the basis for estimating the CPI inflation rate.

The CPI basket is presented in the report through 13 tables showing the first (division level) to fifth digits of the UN COICOP. Table 3.1 on page 17 shows the weights of the 12 divisions of goods and services. The divisions and their respective weights (per $1000) comprise of:
1) food and non-alcohol --- 75.03
2) alcoholic beverages and tobacco --- 6.75
3) clothing --- 34.69
4) housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels --- 399.11
5) furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance --- 55.63
6) health --- 24.24
7) transport --- 94.30
8) communication --- 69.70
9) recreation and culture --- 40.57
10) education --- 27.90
11) restaurants and hotels --- 40.19
12) miscellaneous goods and services --- 131.90

The other tables show the weights of classes and products of goods and services comprising each division.

The Report also includes a comparative table of the new (2008) CPI basket and the current (1994) basket. The first CPI report using the new basket is planned for release in the 3rd quarter of 2009. Subscribe