Barbados
Official title
Index of Retail Prices.
Scope
The index is compiled monthly and covers the whole country. Households
with monthly disposable income of 3,500 dollars or more are excluded
from the index. The Index covers about 93% of all households.
Official base
May 1994 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived from the household budget
survey conducted during the period October1988 - septembre 1989.
Suplementary information were used from trade and production statistics.
The survey covered a sample of 2,349 households, i.e. over 3% of the
total number of private households. Two stage sample design was used.
In the first stage, 45 enumeration disticts were drown, with probability
propotrional to size. In the second stage a sample of about 35 households
in each ED were sistematicaly selected for interviewing in a six month peiod.
A new sample of households was selected for interrrrview in the second
six month period. The items in the basket were selected on the basis of
the percentage contribution which the items made to the total budget.
Those items whose contribution was deemed to be insignificant were
either left out altogether or grouped with related items and included
as a group item.
:hp4.Weights and composition:ehp4.
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food
| 62 | 43.2 | 257
|
| Alcoholic beverages and tobacco
| 7 | 8.4 | 36
|
| Housing
| 9 | 13.1 | 26
|
| Fuel and light
| 5 | 6.2 | 9
|
| Household operations and supplies
| 24 | 9.6 | 96
|
| Clothing and footwear
| 21 | 5.1 | 99
|
| Transport
| 13 | 4.6 | 30
|
| Personal and medical care
| 19 | 6.0 | 69
|
| Education, recreation and miscellaneous
| 8 | 3.8 | 36
|
| Total
| 168 | 100.0 | 658
|
The used classification partialy conform with the SNA classification.
Household consumption expenditure
This includes goods consumed by households, home produced goods
for own use, home ownership, credit purchase. Social security
contributions and compulsory pension payments are not treated as
household consumption expenditure, nor is income tax.
SAMPLING
Sample selection of outlets was based on the information obtained
in the Houeshold Budget Survey suplemented by the local knolidge.
Method of data collection
Prices are collected from 124 selected retail stores and
establishments by the field staff of the Statistical Service.
Pices are collected weekly (5 outlets), monthly (60 outlets) and quaterly
(59 outlets). Most of the prices are collected monthly, on the Wendsday
nearest to the middle of the month.
Pices on fruit, vegetables and fish are collected every Friday of the
month from public markets. Quarterly price collections, which include
telephone rates, water rates, laundry services, hairdressing rates, bus
fares and taxi fares, are carried out in the middle month of each quarter.
The prices used in the index are the regular prices paid by any
member of the general public. Discounts are taken only when they
are given to all purchasers. Price reductions to special groups
are not considered.
Housing
Data on house rent are collected only for government-owned housing
units. Rent changes are taken into account when they occur, based
on information supplied by the authorities.
Specification of varieties
The items collected must have clear and precise specifications,
such as brand, unit, type quality and quantity.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
If a product is no longer available, it is substituted by another
product with approximately the same quality, and a method of linking
is used.
Seasonal items
No seasonal items are in the index.
Computation
The index is computed according to Laspeyres formula as a
weighted arithmetic average with fixed base, using weights
corresponding to the base period.
The price relative for each item is calculated by dividing
the sum of prices quoted for the current period by the sum of
prices quoted for the previous period. Then it is linked to the
preceding month's price relative to compute the current price relative.
The average price of an item is the simple arithmetic mean of the
prices obtained for that item.
Organisation and publication
Statistical Service: Monthly Digest of Statistics
(Bridgetown).
Idem: The Barbados Economic Report
.
Idem: Monthly Statistical Bulletin
.
Idem: Economic and Financial Statistics
.