Bolivia (La Paz)
Official title
Indice de Precios al Consumidor (Consumer Price Index).
Scope
The index is compiled monthly and covers wage earners' and
salaried employees' families in La Paz, with lower and middle incomes
Paz.
Official base
1966 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived from a household
expenditure survey conducted in La Paz from the end of 1964 to
the end of 1965 among a random sample of some 800 wage earners'
and salaried employees' families with lower and middle incomes.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food
| 66 | 51.30 | ...
|
| Housing:
| @ | @ | @
|
| Rent
| 1 | 7.41 | ...
|
| Real estate taxes
| 1 | 1.25 | ...
|
| Fuel and power
| 2 | 5.03 | ...
|
| Household expenditure
| 32 | 5.18 | ...
|
| Clothing and footwear
| 32 | 12.10 | ...
|
| Miscellaneous
| 27 | 17.73 | ...
|
| Total
| 161 | 100.00 | ...
|
Household consumption expenditure
This does not include savings, investments, taxes on rent or
other direct taxes.
Method of data collection
Prices are collected by agents at 1,200 outlets and service
establishments. Depending on the nature of the items, prices are
ascertained weekly, monthly or annually. Food items and items
falling under Housing
are priced weekly. Information on fuel
and clothing detergents is obtained weekly and on power
each month. Prices used in the index calculation are the
current prices paid at the selected outlets. Discounts and sale
prices are not taken into consideration.
Housing
Data on rent are obtained monthly from a sample of 100 dwellings.
Housing units occupied by their owners are not taken into
consideration.
Specification of varieties
The specifications of items to be priced are given in terms of
brand name, size, unit, quality, volume and weight.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
When an item disappears from the market, it is substituted by a
similar item and its weight is maintained.
Seasonal items
Prices for the off season are assumed to follow the price
movements of the other items in the sub-group.
Computation
The index is computed according to the Laspeyres formula as a weighted
arithmetic average with fixed base, using weights corresponding to
1964-65. The index for an item is obtained using price ratios for the
current and preceding periods.
Other information
Monthly and annual reports contain general indices, indices for groups
and sub-groups and index variations from the previous month.
Organisation and publication
Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Departemento de Estadísticas
Economícas, División de Precios: Indice de Precios al
Consumidor
, (La Paz).
Idem: Indice de Precios al Consumidor
.