Czechoslovakia
Official title
Consumer Price Index.
Scope
The index is compiled monthly and covers the whole population of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
Official base
January 1989 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and items were derived from retail trade turnover. The weights relate to 1989.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food
| 239 | 297.64 | ...
|
| Public housing
| 79 | 105.63 | ...
|
| Industrial goods:
| 500 | 450.77 | ...
|
| Clothing
| 150 | 101.86 | ...
|
| Footwear and leather
| 52 | 28.69 | ...
|
| Other (incl. fuel)
| 248 | 320.22 | ...
|
| Services (incl. rent, transport and communications)
| 233 | 145.96 | ...
|
| Total
| 1,051 | 1,000.00 | ...
|
Household consumption expenditure
All monetary expenditure by households in state, co-operative and private shops for the purchase of food and industrial goods, expenditure in restaurants and public canteens, expenditure for services, including administrative, notarial, lawyers', judicial and local fees, and material and personal insurance.
Method of data collection
The items selected for price collection must currently be purchased by consumers, important from the point of view of consumers' expenditure and representative of certain groups of goods.
Most prices are collected by regional statisticians each month with respect to the 15th of the month, at selected shops and service establishments in all districts of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
For some items with prices fixed for a several years, the prices are recorded by the reporting unit at the beginning of each year. If a change of price occurs during the year, the unit reports the new price within five days. For instance, prices for electricity, gas, water, transport and communication are uniform throughout the country and are collected centrally.
Prices for fruit and vegetables are ascertained three times a month, on the 1 st, 10th and 20th day of each month.
Health, medical care and education are provided free of charge. The fees for some items, e.g. language and music courses, are obtained from the appropriate service establishments.
The index is based on prices paid in state, co-operative and private trade for full-value goods; prices of second-hand goods are not included in the index.
Housing
The rent data for dwellings are determined on the basis of flat rates per square metre of floor space and rates for basic household equipment, e.g. cookers, space for storage of fuel, food, hygienic facility, electricity, water conduit and sewerage system, bathroom, washing line, cupboards, central heating, house cleaning and lift.
Rent quotations are obtained for flats of different sizes: oneroom studio, one room with kitchen, two rooms with kitchen and three rooms with kitchen. Rents for flats are collected centrally (by decree of the central organisation). A decentralised rent inquiry is being prepared.
Changes in the costs of owner-occupied housing are represented in the index by the price trend of building materials and the prices for building work and housing maintenance.
Specification of varieties
The goods and services to be priced are specified in detail, i.e. size, make, brand, quantity, quality, etc. The quality description was established with the assistance of trade specialists.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
When a product is no longer available, it is substituted by another product of approximately the same quality. If the quality of the substitute product is not directly comparable with that of the previous product, adjustments for quality are made on the advice of the specialists from trade organisations. As a rule, insignificant differences in quality (e.g. of a fashionable character) are not taken into account.
Seasonal items
Fresh fruit and vegetables are not always on sale each month. A separate monthly basket is compiled comprising selected varieties currently on sale in the relevant month. The weights of the individual varieties of vegetables and fruit in these baskets are based on the average for the years 1985-1989. The subgroup index for vegetables and fruit is then computed using constant weights based on the percentage of total consumption expenditure.
Computation
The index is computed according to the Laspeyres formula as a weighted arithmetic average with fixed base, using weights corresponding to the base period.
The prices collected from the individual reporting units are used to calculate unweighed arithmetic averages. Separate indices are calculated for the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The index for the whole country is the average of these two indices.
Other information
"Cost of living indices" for the main social groups of households, for low- and high-income household groups, and for households with one, two and three children are also computed and published.
Organisation and publication
Federal Statistical Office, Czech Statistical Office and Slovak Statistical Office: "Statistical Information" (Prague). - Development of price indices in consumer and production sphere (quick monthly information) - Development of consumer price indices (monthly information)
Idem: "Statistical Yearbook".
Idem: "Figures for Everybody".