Changes to the Consumer Basket

The National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) has updated the consumer basket. The consumer basket is used for calculating of the Consumer Price Index (inflation rate in the country), reflecting the structure of consumption of an average consumer in the country. The composition of the 2015 consumer basket remained identical to the consumer basket in 2014 containing 295 items. The weight of the products and services making part to the consumer basket were updated. The consumer basket for 2015 is based on the consumption structure according to the System of National Accounts. The weights of the groups and individual products (services) of the basket are based on the consumption structure of the National Accounts System and data from the Integrated Household Survey. Weights are updated annually with the use of the latest data from the above-mentioned sources. Using national accounts data for the consumer basket weights is one of the main recommendations given by Eurostat to the EU member states. The updated consumer basket reflects the latest consumption pattern of population, thus enhancing reliability of the Consumer Price Index (inflation). 30.74 percent of consumer basket is taken by food and non-alcoholic beverages, such as rice, buckwheat, manna-croup, wheat bread, macaroni products, vermicelli, cakes, waffles, toast and wheat flour. These are the first ten products from this category.

Alcoholic beverages and tobaccos take up 5.19 percent of the consumer basket. Clothing and footwear - 2.89 percent; Housing, water, gas, electricity, and other fuels, - 8.48 percent; Furnishings, housing appliances and equipment, routine house maintenance - 6.43% percent; Healthcare - 9.46 percent; Transport - 11.80 percent; Communication - 3.61 percent; Recreation and culture - 7.11 percent; Education - 5.03 percent; Hotels, cafes and restaurants - 4.80 percent and miscellaneous goods and services - 4.50 percent. Using national accounts data for the consumer basket weights is one of the main recommendations given by Eurostat to the EU member states.

The updated consumer basket reflects the latest consumption pattern of the population, thus enhancing the reliability of the Consumer Price Index (inflation).
(Geostat.ge)