Zimbabwe
Official title
National Consumer Price Index of Zimbabwe.
Scope
The index is compiled monthly and relates to all types of households
in the whole country.
Official base
1990 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived from the results of a
household expenditure survey conducted between July 1990 and June 1991
among a sample of about 14 000
households in Harare and 233 in Bulawayo. The weights were not
adjusted to take into account 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
| 27 | 54.9 | 1466
|
| Beverages and tobacco
| 5 | 5.4 | 156
|
| Clothing and footwear
| 25 | 6.6 | 496
|
| Rent, fuel and light
| 4 | 18.4 | 87
|
| Household goods
| 23 | 4.6 | 741
|
| Transport
| 19 | 4.7 | 34
|
| Miscellaneous
| 21 | 5.4 | 295
|
| Total
| 124 | 100.0 | 3275
|
Household consumption expenditure
The consumption of goods and services received as income in kind is not
taken into account. Household consumption expenditure excludes direct
taxes and savings such as life insurance premiums and payments to
pension funds, and expenditure on gambling and donations.
Method of data collection
Prices are collected each month from selected retail stores and
service establishments in the high density suburbs of Harare,
Bulawayo, Mutare and Gweru. Outlets in the city centres are also
covered.
Price collection is mostly carried out through mail questionnaires.
In Bulawayo, Mutare and Gweru, the questionnaires are distributed
and collected by officers of the Department of Community
Services. In these areas, price data for fruit and vegetables
are collected each quarter by means of interviews in the markets.
In Harare, some of the price data for those items such as fruit
and vegetables sold in markets are collected by staff of the
prices section of the Central Statistical Office.
The prices used in the index are those that any member of
the public would have to pay on the pricing day. Price data
refer to the 8th of each month. Sale, black-market and discount
prices are not taken into account.
Housing
Rent quotations are collected through a six-monthly survey of
dwellings. The rent index is based on rent, including water and
sewerage charges paid for various types of municipal housing.
Housing repair costs are excluded from the major group Rent
but
are included in the Miscellaneous
group.
Specification of varieties
For some items, mainly groceries, the brand and size are
specified on the price collection forms. For the remaining items
broad descriptions are given in the questionnaires by the Central
Statistical Office. Different brands can be used in different
outlets to represent an item so long as prices are collected for
the same brand each month. The best-selling medium-priced
article from a line or range is to be chosen.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
If an item is temporarily out of stock, the last price recorded
is maintained until it is again available, or a substitute item
is introduced, using the method of linking.
Seasonal items
Only fruit and vegetables are treated as seasonal items. A
variable monthly weighting structure is used to allow for
seasonal variations. The total weight for fruit and vegetables is
kept constant.
Computation
The index is computed according to the Laspeyres formula as a
weighted arithmetic average with base December 1981. The group
indices are then converted to the base 1980 = 100 using certain
conversion factors.
In computing item indices, price relatives for the current
and previous periods are used. For most of the items, relatives of
average prices are calculated; averages of price relatives are computed
for a few items such as car spare parts.
Separate indices are first calculated for each of the four
towns and these are then weighted according to the
population of each town to arrive at the national index. The
weights applied to the individual towns are Harare 56, Bulawayo
32, Gweru 6, and Mutare 6.
Other information
The Central Statistical Office also publishes a consumer price
index for higher-income urban families (base 1980 = 100). In
addition, an all-items index exclusive of sales tax and excise
duty is also produced for both lower- and higher-income urban
families.
Organisation and publication
Central Statistical Office: Quarterly Digest of
Statistics
(Harare).
Idem: Monthly Supplement to the Digest of Statistics
.