Swaziland (Mbabane-Manzini)
Official title
Retail Price Index B
.
Scope
The index is compiled monthly and relates to low-income
wage earners' households in Mbabane and Manzini with an
annual income of about 1,000 emalangeni in 1977.
Official base
January 1967 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights were derived from household expenditure data
concerning low-wage families in Kenya, Rhodesia, the United
Kingdom and South Africa.
Weights and composition
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food:
|
| Fruit and vegetables
| 5 | 4.5 | ...
|
| Other food
| 19 | 57.5 | ...
|
| Beverages and tobacco
| 3 | 12.0 | ...
|
| Fuel and light
| 4 | 6.0 | ...
|
| Clothing and footwear
| 9 | 10.0 | ...
|
| Other items
| 8 | 10.0 | ...
|
| Total
| 48 | 100.0 | ...
|
Household consumption expenditure
Not available.
Method of data collection
Prices are obtained from four markets, and from retail outlets and
service establishments in Mbabane and Manzini. A permanent staff member
of the Central Statistical Office collects prices for all items except
fruit and vegetables, for which prices are collected by agents.
Prices of fresh fruit and vegetables are ascertained on
Tuesday each week and for the others around the 15th of each
month. Price data for education, transportation and medical care
are gathered by telephone.
The prices used to compute the index are the retail prices actually
paid.
Housing
Rent is not included in the index, nor was it taken into account
in determining the weights.
Specification of varieties
The goods and services to be priced are specified in detail, i.e.
size, make, brand, quantity and quality.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
When an item is no longer available, it is substituted by
another with approximately the same quality and a
linking method is used.
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.
Price relatives for the current and base periods are generally used
to compute item indices, except for clothing and textiles, for which
price relatives of the current and previous periods are used. In
computing average prices, outlet prices in different localities are
weighted according to retail sales turnover.
Other information
New series relating to low-, middle- and high-income group families are
now computed (base September 1988 = 100), but the relevant
methodological information was not available in the ILO at the time the
present volume was published.
Organisation and publication
Central Statistical Office: Swaziland Statistical News
(Mbabane).