Gambia (Banjul, Kombo St. Mary)
Official title
Consumer Price Index.
Scope
The index is compiled monthly and covers low-income group
households with an annual income of up to 1,500 dalasis during
August 1968 to August 1969. The index relates to Banjul, the
capital city, and Kombo St. Mary.
Official base
1974 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived from a household expenditure
survey conducted from August 1968 to August 1969, covering 618
households in Banjul. The price changes between the survey period and
the base period (1974) were not taken into account in the weights. The
criteria for selecting items for the basket was that all expenditure
items with 0.5 per cent or more of the market basket should be included.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food
| 52 | 580 | ...
|
| Clothing, footwear and household linen
| 12 | 175 | ...
|
| Rent
| 42 | 51 | ...
|
| Fuel and light
| 5 | 54 | ...
|
| Miscellaneous (including personal and medical care, education, recreation, tobacco, etc.)
| 24 | 140 | ...
|
| Total
| 135 | 1000 | ...
|
Household consumption expenditure
Consumption expenditure for the purpose of the index comprises
all goods and services purchased for consumption by the index
population. Income tax, gifts and charities, religious and
ceremonial functions such as births, funerals and marriages, loans,
purchase and maintenance of motor vehicles for commercial use,
life insurance, credits and savings are excluded.
Method of data collection
Prices are collected by the permanent staff of the Central Statistics
Division from four market areas and 48 retail outlets and service
establishments in Banjul and Kombo St. Mary.
Prices are ascertained each month for most of the items. For
certain items with large price fluctuations, prices are
collected each fortnight through direct buying.
For items such as electricity charges, doctors' fees,
hair-dressing, school fees, cinema tickets, dances, newspapers,
taxi fares,
air fares, foreign air-letters and dry-cleaning and washing, prices
are collected once a month.
The prices used in the index are the prices actually paid.
Housing
Rent data are collected in February, May, August and November
for 42 rented dwellings. The sample is kept fixed except for
occasional adjustments.
Specification of varieties
A detailed description of each item priced is provided to
the price collectors.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
If a product is no longer available on the market, it is
substituted by a similar product and a method of linking is
used.
Seasonal items
Fresh fruit and vegetables are treated as seasonal items. During
the off season, the weights of these items are assigned to the
other items within the same group.
Computation
The index is computed according to the Laspeyres formula as a
weighted arithmetic average with fixed base, using weights
corresponding to August 1968-August 1969.
Price relatives of the current and base periods are used to compute
item indices.
Organisation and publication
Ministry of Economic Planning and Industrial Development, Central
Statistics Division: Consumer Price Index
(Banjul).
President's Office, Central Statistics Division: Proposals for
a new series of Consumer Price Index Numbers for Banjul and Kombo
St. Mary
(Banjul, nov. 1973).