Boundaries and Buying: Realigning the publication areas of the CPI with current political and economic geographic realities

Type Report
Title Boundaries and Buying: Realigning the publication areas of the CPI with current political and economic geographic realities
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2006
Page numbers 0-0
Publisher Consumer Price Index
Country/State South Africa
Abstract
The current geographic breakdown in the CPI publication bears very little resemblance to commonly recognised political and administrative boundaries. In preparation for the reweighting of the CPI, research has been conducted to try and identify the most suitable cities and towns from which to collect price data, and how these should be reported in the publication. Data such as Census 2001, the Labour Force survey, the Quarterly Employment Survey, distribution of retail chain stores and the Urban Function Index were analysed to identify the urban centres with the biggest potential expenditure in each province. The changes are not expected to have any significant impact on the levels of reported inflation, but will make the CPI publication more relevant and understandable. Collection in the new areas will begin in January 2007 with a three month overlap between new and old areas. This will not initially affect the way the CPI is published. Changes to the names of the places in the publication will only be made with the implementation of the reweighted CPI basket.

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