New: series of price indices

Press, 27 May 1981, Page 29

New: series of price indices

The Department of Statistics has launched a new series of price indices called the capital expenditure price index (CEPI'. The Minister of Statistics, (Mr Templeton), said that it covered more than 70 types of capital assets, including plant, machinery and buildings and allowed historic value to be adjusted to current value. This was necessary for the latest accounting techniques, current cost accounting, he said.

‘‘Current cost accounting lists assets at today's price and I can see more companies turning to it as a more accurate on-going assess-

ment of value. The capital expenditure price indices are a great help with this." Mr Templeton said CEPI would also help with economic policy formation and monitoring. The CEPI also filled a gap in economic statistics. The classifications were compatible with those used in industrial censuses and in national accounting. The CEPI thus provided a means of deflating capital expenditure aggregates where these were expressed in money terms. In times of high inflation thev provide a worthwhile addition to the information needed by economists in the academic and policy areas.