Bahamas
Official title
Retail Price Index for New Providence.
Scope
The index is computed monthly and covers all private households
in New Providence.
Official base
March - April 1987 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived from a household expenditure
survey conducted in 1983 throughout the island of New Providence, except
for the extreme western and eastern ends of the island, among a sample
of private households. If more than 0.001 per cent of the total
household expenditure was spent on an item, that item was selected to be
part of the basket
. The weights of items not chosen were
aggregated and the sum was placed in the other
category of that
item group. The weights were not adjusted to take into account price
changes between the survey and base periods.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food
| 98 | 17.196 | 1332
|
| Clothing and footwear
| 20 | 6.647 | 294
|
| Housing:
|
| Rent
| 2 | 5.213 | 39
|
| Net rental value of owner occupied dwellings
| 3 | 13.435 | 7
|
| Fuel and light
| 3 | 3.992 | 3
|
| Maintenance and repairs
| 4 | 2.965 | 12
|
| Furniture, furnishings and household equipment and operation
| 28 | 9.527 | 296
|
| Medical care
| 8 | 3.263 | 118
|
| Transport and communication
| 17 | 22.094 | 151
|
| Education and recreation
| 25 | 12.792 | 221
|
| Miscellaneous
| 15 | 2.878 | 287
|
| Total
| 223 | 100.000 | 2760
|
Household consumption expenditure
Included are house purchases, property insurance and taxes,
accident and health insurance, and life insurance associated with
professional activity.
Excluded are ordinary life insurance, savings, purchases of
stocks and shares, the capital content of mortgage payments and
repaymenta on bank loans.
Method of data collection
Prices for most items are collected by agents or through
telephone contacts, from 208 retail outlets and service
establishments. Prices for medical services and insurance are
obtained by mail questionnaires. Prices are ascertained each month
or quarter and generally refer to the first two weeks of the
month.
For all commodities and services, the prices or charges used
for the Retail Price Index are those actually charged in cash
transactions. Extra charges for credit are excluded and
discounts are ignored. Listed prices are ignored if a retailer
is regularly selling at prices other than those listed; temporary
reductions are not taken into account.
Housing
Both furnished and unfurnished rented dwellings with one or two bedrooms
are included. Rent quotations are obtained for 32 unfurnished and 7
furnished dwellings through personal visits or telephone contacts.
The value of home purchases, property insurance and property taxes is
taken into account in the net rental value of owner- occupied dwellings.
Specification of varieties
In order to determine the item specifications, discussions were held
with store managers as to which brands and sizes of a particular
item generated the most sales.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
If a price change is caused by a quality change, the base price
is changed in order to eliminate the price movement. A new item may be
introduced in the index to replace an item that has
disappeared from the market. Prices of both new
and old
items are noted in the same months to ensure that only
price movements are recorded in the month of the change-over. If
an item disappears temporarily, the last price
collected is kept until the item reappears on the shelf. If,
however, the item does not reappear after a certain length of
time (say 3 months), substitution is necessary.
Seasonal items
There is no special treatment for the seasonal items in the
index.
Computation
The index is computed according to the Laspeyres formula as a
weighted arithmetic average with fixed base, using weights
corresponding to 1983.
The price relative for each item is calculated by dividing the
average price for the current period by the average price for the
base period. The average price of an item is the simple
arithmetic mean of the prices obtained for that item.
Other information
A Retail Price Index for Grand Bahama (base March 1974 = 100) is
also computed and published by the Department of Statistics.
However, the New Providence Retail Price
Index is used as the national index.
Organisation and publication
Ministry of Finance, Department of statistics: Retail Price
Index
(Nassau).
Idem: Quarterly Statistical Summary
.
Idem: Annual Review of Retail Prices
.
Idem: An explanation of the Retail Price Index
.
Idem: The revised index for New Providence
.