Malta
Official title
Retail Price Index.
Scope
The index is compiled monthly and covers employees' households.
Official base
1983 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived from a household expenditure
survey conducted in 1983, covering employees' households with two to six
persons, not more than two full-time working members and the head of the
household earning 23 and 40 pounds per week. Households of professional
and own-account workers and pensioners were excluded.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food
| 90 | 41.91 | ...
|
| Beverages and tobacco
| 13 | 9.46 | ...
|
| Clothing and footwear
| 37 | 10.57 | ...
|
| Housing:
|
| Rent
| 2 | 1.90 | ...
|
| Water charges
| 2 | 0.25 | ...
|
| Maintenance and repairs
| 5 | 1.82 | ...
|
| Fuel and light
| 5 | 3.14 | ...
|
| Furniture, furnishings and household equipment
| 29 | 6.15 | ...
|
| Transport and communication
| 13 | 9.93 | ...
|
| Personal and medical care
| 33 | 5.55 | ...
|
| Education and recreation
| 31 | 4.92 | ...
|
| Other goods and services
| 14 | 4.40 | ...
|
| Total
| 274 | 100.00 | ...
|
Household consumption expenditure
Fees for driving licence and motor car insurance premiums are excluded.
Method of data collection
Prices for most items are collected once a month by agents, from retail
outlets and service establishments in 13
localities. Prices for fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and fish are
ascertained three times a month. The prices used to calculate the
index are the prices actually paid.
Housing
Rent quotations are obtained from an annual survey of 400 households
living in rented dwellings. No account is taken of owner-occupied
housing in the index.
Specification of varieties
Not available.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
If the quality of an item changes or an item appears on the market, a
new series of prices is established.
Seasonal items
Seasonal fluctuations in the prices of certain items are taken into
account by varying monthly item weights within constant group weights.
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 national index is the average for the 13 localities.
Other information
Sub-groups are published for Food, beverages and tobacco, Clothing and
footwear, Housing, Fuel and power, Furniture, furnishings and household
equipment, Transport and communications, Personal care and health,
Educational, entertainment and recreation, and Other goods and services.
A new series (base 1991 = 100) is now computed, but the relevant
methodological information was not available in the ILO at the time the
present volume was published.
Organisation and publication
Central Office of Statistics: Quarterly Digest of Statistics
(Valletta).
Idem: Annual Abstract of Statistics.
.
Idem: Report on Proposals for a New Index of Retail Prices -
1984
.