January 2007 Consumer Price Index - Introduction Of Rebased Series

A new rebased Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been introduced by the Central Statistics Office with the publication of the figures for January 2007 today. The re-basing process has involved a major update of the basket of goods and services used to compile the CPI.
The purpose of updating is to ensure the continuing accuracy of the index by keeping the basket of goods and services representative of current consumer spending behaviour. The following is a summary of the main changes that have come into effect.

Update of Coverage of Goods and Services:

In summary, 36 new items have been introduced while 33 have been deleted from the basket of goods and services. A further 48 items have been modified with respect to definition and coverage. The net effect is that, where the previous basket of goods and services had 613 items, the new basket comprises 616 items. The main changes in the basket are outlined in Appendix 1.

Changes to the Expenditure Profile:

The expenditure weights of the CPI goods and services have been updated based on the 2004/2005 Household Budget Survey (HBS) with adjustments for tourist expenditure and under-reporting of alcohol and tobacco expenditure in the HBS.

The most notable changes in comparison with the previous weights were increases in the weights for Housing, Water Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (+4.18%) and Communications (+1.52%) and decreases in the weights for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (-2.35%), Restaurants and Hotels (-2.34%) and Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (-1.45%). At a higher level, Services now represent 52.9% of the CPI basket as compared to 47.1% for Goods. A comparison of the weights for the new basket and the old basket by commodity group is presented in Appendix 2 and the new detailed weightings and item list are
presented in Appendix 3.

Pricing Locations:

Previously the CSO collected prices in 86 towns and cities throughout Ireland. These pricing locations have been reviewed and some changes have been made. Excluding Dublin, prices will now be collected in 83 towns and cities across the country. Changes in pricing locations have been based on changes in population as reflected by the 2006 Census of Population.

For further information contact

Kevin McCormack (021-4535603), Kieran Walsh (021-4535091) or Noreen Dorgan (021-4535427)
Fax 021 453 5433
E-mail cpi@cso.ie

22 February 2007

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