Nepal
Official title
National Urban Consumer Price Index.
Scope
The index is computed monthly and covers private households
in 13 urban areas.
Official base
Mid-July 1983 - mid-July 1984 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived from a household expenditure
survey conducted from mid-March 1984 to mid-February 1985 among 1,161
private households in urban areas. The index is designed to cover all
non-institutional private households residing in urban areas, except
one-person households, households composed of more than ten persons,
households whose total consumption expenditure was less than 450 rupees
or more than 3,500 rupees, households which derived more than 50 per
cent of the value of their consumption expenditure from home production
or sources other than the market place. The index covers 13 urban
areas.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food
| ... | 62.63 | ...
|
| Clothing
| ... | 10.09 | ...
|
| Footwear
| ... | 1.72 | ...
|
| Housing (incl. fuel, light and water)
| ... | 12.66 | ...
|
| Transport and communication
| ... | 2.13 | ...
|
| Personal and medical care
| ... | 4.59 | ...
|
| Education, reading and recreation
| ... | 4.14 | ...
|
| Tobacco
| ... | 2.04 | ...
|
| Total
| ... | 100.00 | ...
|
Household consumption expenditure
Included is the total value of goods and services purchased,
home-produced goods and received free and as part of wage income and
consumed, including the rental value of owner-occupied dwellings and
free housing. Excluded are direct taxes, gifts and contributions,
insurance premiums, occupational expenses, consumer debts, lottery
tickets, money losses, expenditure on weddings, litigation expenses,
etc.
Method of data collection
Prices are collected from about 700 retail stores and
establishments by personal visits.
Prices are collected each week for fresh fruit and vegetables, each
fortnight for fresh fish, milk and milk products, etc., and each month
for clothing, fuel, etc. Prices for all other items are collected each
quarter, except for education fees, physicians' fees, electricity
charges and water charges, which are priced once a year.
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, including sales and excise taxes.
The investigators collect prices from retail outlets on the
cash payment basis. If the goods are not available on the free
market, the prevailing black-market price is collected.
Housing
Rent data are collected each year through the house rent survey
which covers about 448 households. No account is taken of
owner-occupied housing in the index.
Specification of varieties
A number of market surveys were conducted in each sample town,
mainly to select outlets and specifications for pricing. Each of
the priced items in each of the selected centres is described in
specifications which give the size, weight, materials
used, workmanship and other qualitative and quantitative
features.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
If a specific item is not available on the market, an appropriate
substitution is made and the index is adjusted for the change in
quality.
Seasonal items
For seasonal items such as fresh fish, fruit and
vegetables that are not available on the market during the
off season, the last available prices are used to calculate the
index until new prices are available.
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.
To obtain the national urban index, the three regional
indices are combined, using regional weights based on the
total urban population of each region.
Other information
Separate indices are published for the three regions:
Urban Consumer Price Index for Kathmandu, Urban Consumer Price
Index for Hills, Urban consumer Price index for Terai.
Organisation and publication
Publications: Nepal Rastra Bank, Research Department: Main
Economic Indicators
.