Bahrain
Official title
Consumer Price Index.
Scope
The index is computed monthly and covers all private households.
All regions of the country are represented in the Index.
Official base
March 1983-March 1984 = 100.
The series of CPI are available since June 1985.
Source of weights
The weights were derived from the 1983/84 Household Income and
Expenditure Survey. The survey covered 1536 households distributed
over all regions of Bahrain. Data were collected on 4 different
weeks for each sampled household. The refernce period of the weights
is the same as the base period of the Index.
Weights and composition
Household consumption expenditure
Not available.
Sample selection
Since the Bahrain is a small country , there was no problem to choose
localities and outlets for price collection. The big outlets that
contain all or most of the items are selected for price collection.
Items were selected on the basis of popularity.
Method of data collection
Prices for all comodity group, with the exception of vegetables and
fruit, are collected monthly on a day between the 10th and the 25th day
of the month. Vegetables and fruits prices are collected on the 15th
day of the month. Most of the prices are collected by personal visit.
Telephone is also used to collect prices of some commodities such as:
Electricity, Gas and Water, Medical care, Education, Transport and
Communication.
Housing
Data on rents are collected monthly from selected renting offices.
Specification of varieties
The item specifications are given only in terms of the country of
origin, trademark and unit.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
If a product is no longer available in the outlet, a similar product
to the original is substituted.
Seasonal items
The price of the latest season month is kept constant.
Computation
The index is computed according to the Laspeyres formula as a
weighted arithmetic average with fixed basket, using weights
corresponding to the base period.
First, monthly average prices are derived for each priced
commodity. Price indexes are then calculated as ratios of the
corresponding average prices in the given month and in the
base year.
Other information
A new family expenditures survey was scheduled to be carried out
in 1993. On the completition of the survey, a new market basket
and new set of weights have had to be defined but the relevant
methodological infomation was not available in the ILO at the
time the present volume was published.
Organisation and publication
Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture - agency responsible for data collection.
The Central Statistics Organisation - agency responsible for computation.