Ghana
Official title
Consumer Price Index Numbers (national).
Scope
The index is compiled monthly and covers urban and rural
households.
Official base
1977 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived from a national household
expenditure survey conducted during March 1974-February 1975. When
working out the weights, expenditure on items not included in the index
were allocated to the selected items taking into account the close
nature of the items,
&eg the total expenditure on vegetables was allocated to the selected
vegetable items. Some expenditure was into two or more parts and
allocated to different items, &eg expenditure on prepared meals was
split and distributed among the principal components of the meal.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food
| 71 | 49.2 | ...
|
| Beverages and tobacco
| 21 | 6.2 | ...
|
| Clothing and footwear
| 65 | 19.2 | ...
|
| Rent, fuel and light
| 6 | 6.8 | ...
|
| Furniture, furnishings, household equipment and operation
| 48 | 5.1 | ...
|
| Medical care and health
| 8 | 1.8 | ...
|
| Transport and communication
| 15 | 4.3 | ...
|
| Education and recreation
| 10 | 5.5 | ...
|
| Miscellaneous
| 6 | 1.9 | ...
|
| Total
| 250 | 100.0 | ...
|
Household consumption expenditure
Consumption expenditure for the purpose of the index comprises
all the important goods and services purchased for consumption by
the index population. The imputed values of consumption goods used
by households from their own production, interest rates,
licence fees, etc., are excluded.
Method of data collection
Price data are collected from selected retail stores and
market places in nine urban and 30 rural centres. Prices are
collected twice a month, on dates that are as close
as possible to the 8th and the 22nd of the month. The prices
used in the index are those that any member of the public would
have to pay on the pricing day to purchase the specified item or
service.
Whenever the goods are available at the controlled prices at the
selected outlets, such prices are reported and used. The enumerators
are provided with weighing scales so that they can convert the prices
for quantities sold in terms of traditional measures or heaps to prices
for standard weights.
Housing
Rent data are collected from a random sample of 300 urban-
household dwellings selected from the Municipal Assessment
Registers. Every month, rents are collected from a third of
the sample selected. By rotation, each sample dwelling is
covered once every three months. All the sample households occupy
rented units. Owner-occupied dwellings and rent-free quarters
provided by employers are excluded. Data on electricity and
water charges are also collected if such charges are not included
in the rent.
Specification of varieties
For some items, more than one variety is selected, depending upon
the importance of the item. The specifications of items to be
priced are given according to the size, unit and in some cases the
brand name.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
Not available.
Seasonal items
Not available.
Computation
The index is computed according to the Laspeyres formula as a
weighted arithmetic average with fixed base, using weights
corresponding to March 1974-February 1975.
The average prices of varieties are the simple arithmetic averages of
all the price quotations obtained. The price relative for
each variety of an item is calculated by dividing the average
price for the current period by the average price for the base
period. If two or more varieties are selected for an item, a
simple arithmetic average of price relatives for the varieties
represents the price relative for the item.
Separate indices are first compiled for rural and urban areas in each
region of the country. The urban and rural indices for each region are
then combined to obtain national urban or rural indices. The weighted
average of the urban and rural indices is computed to arrive at the
national index, using as weights the urban and rural
household consumption expenditures.
Other information
The Central Bureau of Statistics calculatea and publishes separate
consumer price indices for Accra City, urban areas and rural
areas.
Organisation and publication
Central Bureau of Statistics: Quarterly Digest of Statistics
(Accra).
Idem: Consumer Price Index Numbers, A new series
(Oct.
1978).