The criteria used in selecting items for price collection are: the item should have significant weight according to the survey, should be common to many households in the survey and should have specific quality, quantity and location. Due to limited resources, some items selected are not priced, although they have the above mentioned characteristics. The weights of two or more items were therefore combined, one of the items being expected to remain on the market, and these were selected to represent the others with combined weights. The items were combined in such a way that their price movement had the same trend and end use.
Major groups | Number of items | Weights | Approximate number of price quotations |
---|---|---|---|
Food | 29 | 50.8 | ... |
Beverages and tobacco | 7 | 6.3 | ... |
Fuel and light | 3 | 7.3 | ... |
Transport | 9 | 5.9 | ... |
Clothing and footwear | 12 | 5.5 | ... |
Miscellaneous | 14 | 8.5 | ... |
Services (incl. rent, education and health) | 15 | 15.7 | ... |
Total | 89 | 100.00 | ... |
In each market, prices are collected for food, drinks and tobacco, fuel and power, clothing and footwear. Clinics and hospitals provide prices of medicaments and drugs as well as consultation fees. These were selected according to attendance rate of patients and geographic distribution. Schools, both primary and secondary, give charges for education and were chosen according to the number of pupils or students attending and by location. Transport companies and groups that are generally responsible for the bulk of this activity provide information on fare changes.
Prices of all items are collected every month except for education charges which are collected once every four months, i.e. once every academic term. The prices collected refer to the middle of the month in question and there is no special treatment for fruit and vegetables.
Prices for items that do not have standard measurements, especially those that are found in heaps and other items for which there are no standard weights are obtained through direct purchase. However, items for which prices are too high to fit the financial budget of the Statistics Department, are priced either by interview methods or are simply quoted.
The data for services are obtained by mail questionnaires.
Usually four people are involved in the price collection exercise. They are equipped with the same amount of money for each market, two weighing scales and a list of items to be priced. Most of the items are bought through the process of bargaining and then weighed, while for others prices are just quoted.
The prices actually paid by the consumer are collected, without excluding discounts, sale prices or black-market prices.
Price relatives of the current and previous periods are used to compute item indices.
Key Economic Indicators(Entebbe).
Idem: Statistical Bulletin No. CPI/1 Consumer Price Index
Kampala (to September 1990)
, Entebbe, October 1990.