Consumer prices in Albania
Consumer prices in Albania
Price is the value that one party agrees to pay the other party in exchange for a good or service. Consumer prices are the prices that individuals pay for the goods and services they consume in their daily lives. These prices are important and of interest because we encounter them every day. The development of consumer prices is measured through the Consumer Price Index, CPI for short. The consumer price index measures the change over time in the prices of goods and services purchased, used or paid for by households.
INSTAT calculates the CPI by collecting data on the prices of products and services in different categories; products can be, for example, food, clothes or even services such as a haircut and education, etc. The index is calculated based on two elements: quantity and price. It is based on the quantity of each product purchased or service consumed by the Albanian population in a year and the price paid for each. To calculate the price index, it is also important to determine the proportions of the main products and services consumed by the Albanian population in a year. This combination of products and services constitutes what is called a "basket of goods and services".
Products and services in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket are classified into 12 main groups:
- Food, and non-alcoholic beverages
- Alcoholic beverages and tobacco
- Clothing and footwear
- Rent, water, fuel and power
- Furniture household and maintenance
- Medical care
- Transport
- Communication
- Recreation and culture
- Education service
- Hotels, coffe-house and restaurants
- Miscellaneous goods and services
Figure 1 shows price trends for some of the main categories over the years. As can be seen in the figure, the category "Food and non-alcoholic beverages" has increased the most in comparison to the general CPI index compared to 2005.
Distribution of weights in the CPI basket, 2024
Consumers spend their income in different ways, for example, some consumers spend more on food and rent, while others on clothing or transport, which is why we have different weights for products and services. Weights are updated regularly as prices and consumption change over time. Figure 2 shows the weights of the 12 main CPI groups based on total household consumption expenditure. The total weight value of the CPI is 100. Two of the groups with the highest weight are "Food and non-alcoholic beverages" and "Rent, water, fuel and power" with 35.6% and 19.5% of the total weight. This means that changes in the price of food and rent have a greater impact on the CPI than changes in health care prices.
For more information CLICK on:
Press releases
https://www.instat.gov.al/en/themes/prices/consumer-price-index/#tab3
Tables and graphs
https://www.instat.gov.al/en/themes/prices/consumer-price-index/#tab2 ;
Methodology:
https://www.instat.gov.al/en/themes/prices/consumer-price-index/#tab4 ;
Articles:
https://www.instat.gov.al/media/7041/revista-kerkimi-4.pdf , page 3 no. 41
https://www.instat.gov.al/media/9430/book-1-infostat-2021.pdf ; page 3 no. 22
https://www.instat.gov.al/media/13143/infostat-04.pdf ; page 5 no. 15