StatsSA has revealed a major overhaul of the food basket that is used to measure consumer inflation by announcing 71 new product additions and the removal of 53 products.
Image: File
Stats SA has added 71 new products to the basket of goods and services that is used to measure consumer inflation while 53 products were removed and 29 products reorganised (through merging, splitting or reclassification).
This comes after StatsSA has announced a shake up of the basket of goods and services that used to measure consumer inflation.
In total, there are now 391 products in the basket, a slight drop from 396.
Here is a look at the products and services that were included and removed form the basket of goods and services used to measure consumer inflation.
Image: StatsSA
The products in the basket are updated periodically to better reflect shifts as well as trends in consumer spending and product weights are also adjusted, according to StatsSA.
New food products that were included in the basket include basmati rice, meat bones, meat patties, chicken nuggets and ready-made meals while items such ready-mix flour, flavoured milk, frozen potato chips and ground coffee/coffee beans were removed from the basket.
Along with the new food items, the new basket has also expanded the coverage of education-related items.
Education-related items that were also included on the list include: school uniform items, school transport services and after school centres.
According to StatsSA, it will now be possible to track education inflation separately for private schools, public schools and universities.
The inclusion of gas in cylinders an candles in the basket may be attributed to load shedding.
On the other hand, municipal services were expanded to include refuse collection and sewage removal. Household items that were excluded are: the toaster/sandwich maker, household batteries and wax shoe polish.
For the health basket. the following items were added:
- clinic services
- orthopaedic surgeons
- optometrists
- spectacles
- physiotherapists
- inpatient (long-term) care centres
- pathology services.
However, a number of items were not included in the basket such as: public-sector health services, like public-sector general practitioners (GPs) and public-sector specialists.
The rise in e-hailing services has resulted in its inclusion on the list while school transport services, was the new addition to the transport category. Driving licences and post office box rentals no longer make the cut.
In terms of technology products, streaming services, modems and routers, USB and external hard drives, power banks and charging cables will now be tracked by the consumer price index (CPI). However, landline telephone fees and satellite TV decoders are no longer part of the basket.
While toy building bricks were added to the recreation category. several products including teddy bears, digital cameras, musical instruments, television licences and magazines were dropped.
New items that were added to the personal care & miscellaneous services category are: body wash, earrings, after school centres, membership fees for professional associations and trade unions, and hiring of equipment for events.
On the other hand, personal care products that were removed include toothbrushes, tissues, hair relaxer, hair colour, and non-electrical shavers.
According to StatsSA, the structure of the new basket is based on data from the 2022/23 Income and Expenditure Survey (IES) and point-of-sale records from retail chain stores.
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