French Polynesia
Official title
Indice des prix de détail à la consommation familiale (Retail
Price Index).
Scope
The index is computed monthly and covers households of all
categories.
Official base
December 1980 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived from the results of a
nation-wide household expenditure survey supplemented by import
statistics. The survey was conducted over three and a half months
during the second half of 1979 among a sample of 836 households of all
categories.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food
| 79 | 3650 | 4107
|
| Manufactured items:
|
| Clothing, footwear and household linen
| 28 | 900 | 362
|
| Furniture, furnishings and household equipment
| 25 | 922 | 508
|
| Cleaning materials
| 13 | 522 | 785
|
| Vehicles
| 6 | 916 | 87
|
| Recreation and reading items
| 18 | 699 | 375
|
| Fuel and light
| 5 | 862 | 6
|
| Tobacco and other
| 6 | 279 | 60
|
| Services:
|
| Rent, water
| 2 | 445 | 25
|
| Maintenance and repairs
| 4 | 148 | 34
|
| Personal and medical care
| 5 | 101 | 32
|
| Transport and communication
| 11 | 390 | 46
|
| Education, recreation, other
| 14 | 166 | 130
|
| Total
| 216 | 10000 | 6557
|
Household consumption expenditure
Account was taken of goods produced by households. Second-hand and
credit purchases and social security contributions were excluded, but
insurance premiums for cars and motor cycles were included.
Method of data collection
Prices for most items are collected each month by investigators or
by means of telephone inquiries, from 326 retail outlets and
service establishments. Prices for food items and those for
manufactured products of important consumption items are obtained
from all 13 localities of the islands of Tahiti and Moorea.
Prices for other items and services are collected in the urban
areas of Tahiti (Papeete, Faaa, Pirae and Arne). Prices include
indirect taxes.
Housing
Rent quotations are obtained four times a year for 22 dwellings.
Specification of varieties
A list of 2,160 specifications is used for price collection, giving
details of the type, brand, weights, quality and country of origin for
each item.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
If an item disappears from the market, it is substituted by a similar
item and a linking method is used. No account is taken of minor quality
change. If the quality change is significant, a linking method is used.
Seasonal items
Prices for fresh fruit, vegetables and fish are ascertained each
week from markets in Papeete and Pirae and each month from the other
retail outlets. A 12-month moving average is used to compute the final
index.
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.
Other information
A new series is now computed (base December 1988 = 100), but the
relevant methodological information was not available in the ILO at the
time the present volume was published.
Organisation and publication
Institut territorial de la statistique: Te Avei'a
(Papeete).
Idem: Journal officiel de la Polynésie Française
.