ELEMENTS CONCERNING THE CALCULATION METHODOLOGY OF THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX

The authors point out from the outset that the consumer price index measures the overall evolution of the prices of purchased goods and of the tariffs of the services used by the population over a certain period of time compared to an earlier period so that this index is calculated for items entering direct consumption of the population. Of course, the evolution of the consumer price index is measured on three components, namely food, non-food products and services, thus expressing a simplified form of inflation measurement. In other terms, we can say that the consumer price index is not the same as the inflation rate index because inflation is calculated on all sectors of the national economy and not only on the three structural elements of consumption components in general. The authors highlight some aspects of family budgets and result from the structure of spending s.a.m.d, pointing out that surveys and price calculation are elements on the basis of which the general inflation index is calculated. The authors also refer to the fact that the index has to be weighted, and it is usually calculated on the basis of the Laspeyres index. The content of the article also presents the calculation relationships of individual indices, aggregate indices and other statistical sizes based on which the consumer price indices and the broad index of the general price index in the economy of a country are calculated.