Solomon Islands (Honiara)
Official title
Retail Price Index.
Scope
The index is compiled monthly and relates to middle income
households living in Honiara and
earning between 2,000 and 7,200 dollars per year in 1991.
Official base
October-December 1992 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived from a household
expenditure survey conducted from March to September 1991 among 4,765
households living in Honiara. The index relates to middle income
households earning between 2,000 and 7,200 dollars per year, at the
time of the survey. No adjustments in the weights were made to take
into account the price changes between the survey period and the base
period.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food
| 73 | 468 | ...
|
| Beverages and tobacco
| 17 | 50 | ...
|
| Clothing and footwear
| 20 | 57 | ...
|
| Housing (incl. rent, fuel and light, etc.)
| 13 | 110 | ...
|
| Household operation
| 35 | 109 | ...
|
| Transport and communication
| 19 | 99 | ...
|
| Recreation, health and other services
| 22 | 79 | ...
|
| Miscellaneous
| 13 | 28 | ...
|
| Total
| 212 | 1000 | ...
|
Household consumption expenditure
Not available.
Method of data collection
Prices are collected by agents between the 15th and 20th of each month
from markets, retail outlets and service establishments in Honiara.
Prices for fresh fruit and vegetables are ascertained each week.
Housing
Rent quotations are obtained for three government-owned and four
private dwellings.
Specification of varieties
Not available.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
Not available.
Seasonal items
Seasonal fluctuations of item prices are taken into account by
maintaining the closing prices of the previous season during the off
season.
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 relating to households in Honiara with annual earnings of
less than 11,000 dollars from all sources in 1982 (base October-December
1984 = 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
Ministry of Finance, Statistics Office: Statistical
Bulletin
(Honiara).