|
Information last updated: 08.02.2012. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
Consumer price index (CPI) |
The consumer price index reflects changes in
the prices of consumer goods and services in a specified period of time. The
CPI measures changes of the average price level for goods and services that
households consume (the fixed consumer basket). This indicator is used as a
principal measure of inflation in CPI is pure price index. It does not reflect
the changes in buying or consumption patterns, brands, and does not reflect
the effect of outlet and service provider substitution. |
||
|
Consumer price changes over the corresponding
period of the previous year (annual inflation), % |
Consumer price changes over the corresponding period of the previous year
(annual inflation) reflect price changes within 12 months. In December of each
year indicator reflects price changes during a calendar year. This indicator is used in the calculations of social benefits, in the
indexation of wages and pensions, in reviewing the lease and rent payments,
in accountancy, in accordance with the law On income tax of enterprises,
to determine the compensation for material losses of natural and legal
persons (wages and salaries not paid up, thefts, accidents, etc.). Although
this indicator may be influenced by one-off price changes in the reference or
comparison periods, it reflects the latest price changes more precisely. |
||
|
Consumer price
changes in last 12 months on average compared to the previous 12 months
(average annual inflation), % |
Consumer price changes on average per year (annual average inflation)
shows the average price changes in the last 12 months compared to the
previous 12 months. This indicator is mostly used in the macroeconomic analysis investigating
the inflationary processes in a longer period of time, as it is practically
not influenced by short-term or transient price fluctuations. |
||
|
Consumer price changes over the previous
period (monthly inflation), % |
Consumer price changes over the previous period (monthly inflation)
reflect changes in the average price level during a month. This indicator may
be substantially influenced by seasonal price fluctuations. |
||
|
Impact, percentage points |
The impact calculation is made to assess
to what degree a specified product or product group has influenced the
overall CPI, or, to assess the contribution of this product or product group
to the overall CPI. The measurement unit of the impact calculation is
percentage points. Products or product groups with insignificant price changes but with a
large share in the consumer basket can influence the overall CPI more than
the products with a little share in the consumer basket but with large price
changes. |
||
|
Example of CPI application to indexation |
The objective of indexation is to compensate the adverse effect of
inflation on the value of money. For that most often total consumer price
index is used. For compensation purposes also indices of individual
consumption groups may be used, as well as producer price indices of selected
sector or group of sectors. In order to carry out indexation the initial value (the value to be
indexed) should be known, as well as the period of time for which indexation
will be carried out and the consumer price index of the respective period. For example, on the 1st January of 2010 (the base period) the
value is LVL 500. In order to determine what the new indexed value will be at
the end of 2010, the CPI for the period from December 2009 to December 2010
must be used. Since the calculation period for the CPI is month, the CSB
cannot provide data on any specified day or week. The necessary price indices are obtained from
the table Consumer price indices for commodity groups (2005=100): 1) CPI in December 2009 (the base period) is 136.6 2) CPI in December 2010 (the reference period) is 140.0 On the basis of these data, the new value is calculated: LVL 500x140.0/136.6=500x1.025=LVL 512.50 The new value is 2.5% higher than the initial (base period) value. The
rise reflects inflation in year 2010. |
||
|
|
|||
|
Data source: |
Sample survey of consumer prices. |
||
|
Coverage |
The CPI covers all resident population of the country including persons
living in institutional households (social care institutions, childrens
homes, prisons, etc.). The consumer price survey is conducted in |
||
|
Sample size |
In 2012, the CPI basket contains 491 goods and services for which
prices are regularly recorded. Approximately 2 thousand various trade outlets
and market service establishments are surveyed. In total, more than 19
thousand prices are observed each month. Average number of prices in
consumption groups observed during a month:
01
Food and non-alcoholic beverages 6 250 02
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco products 520 03
Clothing and footwear 1 900 04
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels 950 05
Furnishings, household goods and cleaning 1 670 06
Health 1 070 07
Transport 1 500 08
Communications 550 09
Recreation and culture 2 160 10
Education 190 11
Hotels, cafes and restaurants 690 12
Miscellaneous goods and services 1 650 Number of goods and services in consumption groups: 01
Food and non-alcoholic beverages 117 02 Alcoholic
beverages and tobacco products 12 03
Clothing and footwear 61 04
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels 28 05
Furnishings, household goods and cleaning 49 06
Health 32 07
Transport 45 08
Communications 11 09
Recreation and culture 60 10
Education 9 11
Hotels, cafes and restaurants 17 12
Miscellaneous goods and services 50 Specifications of observed goods and services are kept unchanged during
the whole year. The CSB wishes to put on record its appreciation of the co-operation and
assistance it receives from retail outlets and other business concerns. |
||
|
Description of data |
Prices of all goods and services, except fuel, are
recorded every month from the 4th till 20th date. Fuel
prices are recorded from 1st till 23rd date. Price discounts
for qualitative goods offered to all consumers are also taken into account
when recording the prices. The prices of goods enter into the CPI for the
month in which they were observed, whereas the prices of services enter into
the CPI for the month in which the consumption of the service at the observed
prices can commence. Price collection is performed by trained CSB employees price collectors. To ensure adequate representation in the overall CPI of more expensive
goods and services that require a larger share of household expenditure, the
weights are computed representing the proportion of expenditures for each
individual commodity to the total household expenditure. The weights are updated every year. The weights used in CPI calculations in 2012
correspond to household consumption expenditure in the period from the 4th
quarter of 2010 to the 3rd quarter of 2011 inclusive. The weights
are priceupdated to December 2011. Household Budget Survey is one of the main information sources for the
calculation of weights. National Accounts data, business statistics and
information from organizations, shops and enterprises are used as an
additional source for the calculation of weights. The outlets, from which prices are collected, are chosen to represent the
existing trade and services network and they are based usually on three main
criteria: Popularity with consumers, significant turnover from consumer sales
and availability of goods and services included in the CPI basket. The sample of price recording places is
regularly updated. If a shop is closed it is replaced by another shop of
equal significance. The sample also includes open markets. |
||
|
Methods of calculation |
At first the average price of products and services collected in
localities is calculated. It is calculated as simple arithmetic mean of the
prices of goods and services surveyed. From all the average prices collected
in localities, average price for the whole country for each product and
service is calculated using population weights. Afterwards price index of each good and service (lower level price index)
is calculated. Price indices of lower aggregation levels are calculated as
the ratios of arithmetic mean prices in the reference and base periods. For the calculation of higher level (consumer group) price indices and
the overall CPI a Laspeyres-type formula is used that expresses the weighted
arithmetic mean value of the lower level price indices:
Comparison (base) period of prices is December of pervious year. To
calculate the price changes in longer time period price indices of each year are
chained in one time series with the same comparison period. In CPI
calculations comparison (base) period is average value of 2005 (2005=100). If
linking month is December of each year, then price index in month m in year G
is calculated: |
||
|
Classification |
All goods and services in the CPI basket are grouped according to the
classification of individual (final) consumption by purpose (international
designation COICOP). |
||
|
Data adjustment |
The published data are final and are not revised. |
||
|
Additional information |
Due to specifics of electronic data processing technologies and rounding
adjustments, minor differences may occur between totals and sums of
components. |
||
|
|
Data quality |
||
|
|
The compliance of methods used for the CPI calculations to the
international standards is inspected both by Eurostat experts, and by
International Monetary Fund (IMF) specialists. In September 2003 expert legation from IMF arrived to In July 2007 expert legation from Eurostat arrived to In accordance with the evaluation of Eurostat, the methods used for the
Latvia HICP calculations meet the set requirements. During the inspection no
discrepancy in the HICP methodology was found. The Latvian HICP data passes
all standard HICP validation tests it is internally consistent and
aggregates correctly. Latvia HICP is comparable with HICP of other European
Union countries. HICP is indicator established to compare the average consumer price level
among the EU countries. HICP basically is calculated by the same method as
national consumer price index (CPI). Compared to CPI, what is the general
measurement of inflation in our country, the HICP has slightly different
definition of population coverage, because the expenditure structure of HICP
includes also the foreign tourist expenditure in our country. According to
that, the observation and conclusions of the Eurostat experts regarding the
HICP correspondence to the methodology can be fully related also to the CPI. It is possible to find complete report in the Eurostat website on the Internet. |
||
|
|
|||
|
Annual data |
Annual
data are available at the 3 or 4-digit level of the COICOP Classification. |
||
|
Quarterly data |
Are
not published. |
||
|
Monthly data |
The
CPI is published monthly. Data are available at the 3 or 4-digit level of the
COICOP Classification. Data
are released on the 6th working day following the end of the reference month. |
||
|
|
|||
|
On the Internet |
|
||
|
|
√ |
|
Annual
data |
|
|
√ |
√ |
Monthly
data |
|
Press releases |
A
press release on consumer price changes is published monthly. |
||
|
Publications |
A bulletin Consumer Prices is published quarterly in Latvian and
English (on four pages). You can purchase publications in the Information Centre or subscribe and receive
them by mail and/or e-mail after registration on the Web Page of the CSB. To see
the Catalogue of Statistical Publications and prices, as well as to purchase
the publications see section Subscribe to publications. |
||
|
Inflation calculator |
With the help of inflation calculator you can calculate the price changes
within the necessary time period. Clicking on the link Inflation calculator new window will open where
you can chose the type of index, as well as indicate period on which the
calculation is necessary. In case when the window does not open, check if
Internet browser does not block pop-up windows. |
||
|
|
Tailor made data sets |
||
|
|
If you cannot find the necessary information on the Internet or in the
publications, the CSB will prepare tailor made data set according to your
request using the databases at its disposal. More information on how to prepare a request for tailor made
information. |
||
|
|
|||
|
Consumer price indices |
Oskars Alksnis, Head of the Consumer Price Indices Section, tel. (+371)
67366865, oskars.alksnis@csb.gov.lv |
||
|
|
|||
|
Eurostat |
The Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) compiles and
publishes on its homepage the Harmonised Consumer Price Indices for EU-27 and
separately for each country. Both the calculated price indices, price changes
and the methodological description can be found in the section: Statistics
/ Economy and finance / Harmonized Indices of
Consumer Prices (HICP): |
||
|
International Monetary Fund |
The IMF homepage provides a description of CPI methodology in the SDDS
format: |
||
