Niue
Official title
Retail Price Index.
Scope
The index is compiled quarterly and covers all medium-income
households in urban areas (Alofi town).
Official base
March quarter 1982 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived in 1981 from a number of
sources, including trade statistics, advice from the three major stores,
government accounts and additional information provided by several
government authorities.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food
| 59 | 430 | ...
|
| Alcoholic beverages and tobacco
| 6 | 115 | ...
|
| Housing
| 9 | 50 | ...
|
| Household operations
| 26 | 130 | ...
|
| Clothing and footwear
| 13 | 50 | ...
|
| Transport
| 12 | 175 | ...
|
| Miscellaneous
| 12 | 50 | ...
|
| Total
| 137 | 1000 | ...
|
Household consumption expenditure
Consumption expenditure for the purpose of the index comprises
all goods and services purchased for consumption by the index
population. It excludes the purchase of new houses, air fares for
permanent movement in or out of Niue, gifts and donations.
Method of data collection
Not available.
Housing
Not available.
Specification of varieties
The specifications of items to be priced are given in terms of brand,
make, size and quality, etc.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
When an item is no longer available, a similar item or another
item of the same sub-group is substituted.
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 the base period.
In computing item indices, price relatives for the current
and previous periods are used.
Other information
A new series (base January-March 1990 = 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
The index is compiled by the Development Planning Office,
Statistics Unit (Alofi).
Treasurer Department: Quarterly Abstract of Statistics
(Alofi).