Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) continues the work

 on data collection and production of Consumer Price Index in light

of COVID-19 (CORONA VIRUS) pandemic

Consumer Price index continues its decline for the second consecutive month, as a result of the decrease in the prices of some basic commodities in food and fuel prices

The overall CPI for Palestine during May 2020 decreased by 0.91% compared with April 2020 (by 1.29% in Gaza Strip, by 0.88% in the West Bank**, and by 0.41% in Jerusalem J1*).

The changes in Palestinian CPI for May 2020 were traced back to changes in prices of the following expenditure sub groups compared with previous month:

The Palestinian CPI during May 2020 decreased by 1.96% compared with May 2019 (by 2.05% in Gaza Strip, by 2.00% in the West Bank**, and by 0.88% in Jerusalem J1*).

Notice for Users:

1.    Because of CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) outbreak, and the implemented measures to limit its spread, the data collection process for Consumer Price Index had been replaced by data collection via phone and websites for all sale outlets in all of the Palestinian Governorates instead of collecting data face to face from the field.

2.    The number of sale outlets, from which Consumer Prices are collected in the West Bank** and Gaza Strip, reached 2,481 outlets in May 2020. Thus, in light of the temporary closure of many outlets in the first half of May due to applying the Palestinian emergency plan, the percentage for the completion of data collection process is as follows:

3.    Basic commodities price data were collected in Jerusalem J1* Governorate, where most of them concentrated on food and non-alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, fuel, gas, medicines and cleaning materials. The number of sale outlets collected in Jerusalem J1* was (127 outlets) out of the sample total number (182 outlets) in the governorate; 70% of outlets was collected.

4.    All services outlets are excluded from collecting their data for May 2020, because of quarterly collection frequency.

5.    The number of price observations collected to compile the Palestinian Consumer Price index is 38,395 price observations; where 93% was collected in May 2020. Hence, the percentages are as follows within the Palestinian regions:

6.    International recommendations are followed in estimating the missing data, which are mentioned in the Consumer Price Index guide. Moreover, the (Group Relative Method) is one of the best methods used to estimate the missing data, which is the process of estimating the prices based on the change in the prices of the remaining sources for the same category.  Accordingly, in case of the closure of an entire source on a temporary basis, all the prices of that source has estimated based on the change in the prices of the sources that share the same items, which are collected from that source.

7.    The estimate also used at the (Next Level Up in Aggregation) in case of the disappearance of the index for a whole sub-group or a higher group reaching up to the major groups that constitute the index.

Notes:

*Data represent those parts of Jerusalem, which were annexed by Israeli Occupation in 1967.

**Data exclude those parts of Jerusalem, which were annexed by Israeli Occupation in 1967.