Cyprus stats service modernises construction price index

The Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat) has revised its prices index for construction materials with a new sample of enterprises and a new base year.
Cystat announced that the classification of materials observed by the index has been updated to reflect the use of modern materials. Materials of minor use have been removed.
The weight of each material over the overall index comes from the sum of imports and local production.
The new classification required a new sample of enterprises. These were selected in a way that ensured prices are representative.
The base year has also been changed. Instead of year 2000, the average price of 2005 is now the base year and will be the price against which all monthly prices are compared in the new index.
The general index has been re-calculated according to the new base year from January 2005 to December 2008.
This means that the apparent changes between the monthly indices of the 2000-based and the 2005-based price index of construction materials are owing to the changes in the classification, the sample, the weights and, of course, the base year.
The price index of construction materials for February 2009 reached 116.51 (base year 2005=100.00) recording a decrease of 0.55% over the previous month.
For the period January – February 2009, the index recorded an increase of 1.05% over the corresponding period of the previous year.