XI. PRICES AND INTERNAL TRADE

Average Retail Prices

Average retail prices are computed from market prices collected by the Central Statistical Organization from the selected markets in the municipal area of Yangon City.

The prices are shown in Table 11.01.

Average Wholesale Prices

Wholesale Prices are obtained directly from the Wholesale Centres in Yangon. They are shown in Table 11.02.

Consumer Price Index

Table 11.03 shows the consumer price index from 1997-98 to 2002-2003. The index is based on 1997 Household Expenditure Survey conducted by the Central Statistical Organization. It measures the average change in the retail prices of goods and services purchased and consumed by the households.

Weights and composition are grouped into five major categories and goods and services for computing the CPI are selected on the basis of their importance and representativeness for the respective groups. The CPI is computed according to Laspeyre's formula.

Gold Prices

Table 11.04 shows the highest, lowest and the average prices of 24 carat and 22 carat gold in Yangon.

Co-operative Statistics

Statistics on co-operative activities are provided by the Co-operative Department. The major objective of co-operative society is to procure, produce and distribute essential goods and services to the consumers through the respective co-operative societies.

1970 Co-operative law was amended to encourage co-operatives to become self-reliant and self-motivated business enterprises, in conformity with the new market-oriented economic policy of the Government. The latest Co-operative Society Law was put into legal effect by the State Law and Order Restoration Council on 22 ^nd December 1992.

Table 11.05 shows the number of co-operative societies and co-operative members and includes financial data on share capital, loan, liabilities, net profit and working capital by type of co-operative society.