Consumer price indices in Poland

Abstract

A description of selected methodological problems related to computations of consumer price indices in Poland (retail price indices and cost-of-living indices) includes the presentation of sources of data and methods of selecting representative goods and services for price observations. A total of about 1400 representative items are observed every month. Price observation is done by special inspectors trained for the purpose.

Cost-of-living indices are computed for four basic groups of the population. The trade statistics on sales of goods and services and the results of household budget surveys conducted every year are used for the construction of the weighting system. Expenditure is broken down in accordance with about 260 groups of items for which partial indices are computed. The weights are adjusted on the basis of macro-data for expenditure on alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and public catering. The weights for retail price indices (for the total population) are determined in a more complicated way, using surveys of the supply of goods and services to the population and some estimates and data from household budget surveys as their two major bases. The data are disaggregated into about 500 items, for which partial price indices are computed. Up to 1980, weights were established once in five years and since then weights are updated annually. Retail price indices are computed for each month, and cost-of-living indices are compiled once in a quarter.