CPI is a statistical indicator that measures the percentage of change that occurs in the prices of goods and services reflecting the consumption of consumers in the society during a time period, called the comparison period attributed to another time period known as the reference period. This index is important since it is an economic indicator which is used by economists and decision-makers.
The CPI is composed of a group of goods and services. Prices’ data are collected on regular basis (weekly – monthly – quarterly) according to the nature of commodity or service. It is worth mentioning that the CPI has been rebased from 2007 to 2013. as of January 2015.
From the new weights, it is noticeable that the relative weight for “Housing Rentals” category (relevant services) has dropped from 32.1% to 21.9% in the new basket, a decrease of 10.2%. The weight for “recreation and culture” group has changed from 4.1% to 12.7%, a rise of 8.6%. However, weight of “restaurants and hotels” group increased by 2.4%. The changes between the old and new weights in the remaining groups are considered insignificant and consistent with changes in the patterns of consumption of goods and services between 2007 and 2013.
The 2013-based CPI is presented using the latest version of the Classification of Individual Consumption according to Purpose (COICOP). The new classification contains 12 main groups, whereas the old one contains eight major groups.
This report shows the CPI during the three months of Q4-2018. It covers the changes and analyzes their main causes that took place during this period.
2. Main features of CPI in the fourth Quarter of 2018
1. The overall CPI amounted to 108.5 points in Q4-2018, a decrease of 0.4% compared to Q3 of 2018 (previous quarter).
2. By comparing the Q4 2018 overall CPI with its corresponding quarter of 2017, the annual decrease reached 0.3%.
3. The index for food and beverages reached 101.4 points, an increase of 0.6% compared to the previous quarter, and a decrease of 2.8% (y-o-y) the corresponding quarter of 2017.
4. The index for the group of “Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels” reached 106.4 points, a decrease of 0.8% compared to the previous quarter, and a 2.7% when compared to its corresponding quarter of 2017.
5. A rise in prices observed in Seven groups that are “Food & Beverages", “Furnishing of Household equipment”, “Health”, “Communication", “Restaurants and Hotels", “Miscellaneous Goods and Services", "Education" when compared to its previous quarter of 2018.
6. A decrease has been recorded in three groups, there are “Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuel", “Transport”, “Recreation and Culture” compared to the previous quarter.
7. “Tobacco”, and “Clothing and Footwear", were holding stable between the Q3, 2018 and Q4, 2018.
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