Paraguay (Asunción)
Official title
Indice de precios del consumo (Consumer Price Index).
Scope
The index is compiled monthly and covers families from every
social and economic background within Greater Asunción.
Official base
1980 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived from the results of a
household expenditure survey conducted from September 1978 to September
1979 among a sample of 1,591 urban families of wage earners, salaried
employees, professionals, retired persons, and single and married
persons with or without a family. It excludes persons living in
military and police facilities, hospitals, convents and other similar
institutions. The average number of persons per family was 4.7. The
index relates to families from every social and economic background
within Greater Asunción. The amount of expenditure and the number of
families were taken as the basis for pre-selecting items.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food and tobacco
| 146 | 36.98 | 1937
|
| Housing:
| | | 725
|
| Rent
| 1 | 15.47 | ...
|
| Fuel and electricity
| 13 | 6.37 | ...
|
| Furniture and household equipment
| 44 | 4.67 | ...
|
| Cleaning materials
| 11 | 1.21 | ...
|
| Clothing and footwear
| 99 | 8.99 | 972
|
| Miscellaneous
| 231 | 26.30 | 2074
|
| Total
| 545 | 100.00 | 5708
|
Household consumption expenditure
Not available.
Method of data collection
An average of 5,700 prices collected each month to calculate
the variation in the price index. Outlets were selected
according to the location of the shops where families purchased
goods most often, with other representative shopping centres
being added.
An average of ten outlets were selected for each item sold
in retail outlets, markets, stores and supermarkets. Prices are
collected in Asunción as follows: staple foods every week; other
foods, housing expenditure and miscellaneous expenditure every month;
clothing and related expenditure every two months. The price survey is
carried out by employees of the Banco Central del Paraguay who are
trained in the technical procedure of setting up index systems.
Discounts are taken into account if they are a regular practice of the
sales outlet, are available to all customers without exception,
and are used in calculating the price relative compared to the
price for the previous period with the corresponding discount. The
marked price is normally collected if the commercial establishment does
not grant discount on the item to all its customers. It is used in
calculating the price relative compared with the marked price for the
previous period. In the case of items for which official prices are
fixed and which are sold on the free market at a price different from
that stipulated by the Government, the prices on the free market are
collected, as this is the amount spent by consumers.
Black market prices are not collected, as the items on
sale have no legal existence, although they do exist physically.
Purchases on installments or on credit are not taken into account, only
cash purchases are used. Second-hand purchases and the exchange of used
goods in part payment for new goods are taken into account in national
currency and at the price at which the seller is prepared to sell them.
In other words, the prices paid by the consumer in acquiring a product
are collected.
Housing
Regarding the items included under the heading of rent, the
sub-group home ownership and rented housing includes only
rented housing. The sample for the collection of prices of
rented housing consists of 200 units divided into four groups
of 50 units each, situated in different districts of Asunción.
Each unit in each group is visited every
four months on a rotating basis. For example, group 1 consists
of 50 units in district A, for which rents are collected in
January. These are used to calculate the price
relative compared to the rents collected in September of the
previous period, the other three groups remaining the same.
Group 2 consists of another 50 units located in district B for which
rents are collected in February. These are compared with the rents
for the previous period, October, while the other groups
remain the same. In March, the rents of group 3, consisting of 50
units in district C, are collected and compared with
those collected in November, while the other groups remain the
same. In April, the rents of group 4, consisting of 50
units in district D, are collected and compared with those of the
previous December, while the other groups remain the same.
Specification of varieties
The information used in establishing the item specifications
refers to the variety, quality and unit of measure used in
calculating the price relative. Depending on the product, the
brand, origin, weight and size are also included.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
If a certain type of product disappears from the market, its
price relative is calculated on the basis of the other elements
in the stratum to which it belongs. If the quality changes, the item
may be substituted by another similar item without comparing
prices at the time of substitution.
Seasonal items
The prices of seasonal items and their weights are kept constant
during collecting periods in which they are not available on the
market, and when they are available prices are collected and
compared to those which were previously constant. This procedure
is used in order to avoid excessive distortion of already
distorted weights.
Computation
The index is calculated according to the Laspeyres formula,
modified according to a fixed volume of consumption and varying
weights. The index for each item is obtained using the price
relatives for the current and previous periods.
Other information
The Banco Central del Paraguay also compiles a parallel consumer
price index covering workers' families in Greater Asunción.
Organisation and publication
Banco Central del Paraguay: Folleto Explicativo del Indice de
Precios del Consumo, Año 1980
, June 1988.
Idem: Bolletín Estadístico
.
Idem: Revista Ņemú Renda
.
Dirección General de Estadística y Censos, Presidencia de la
República: Anuario Estadístico
.