Commerce rebasing CPI

The Department of Commerce is working with the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Census Bureau to rebase the CNMI’s consumer price index.

The CPI is the average price of various commodities that federal officials study when determining how much assistance an aid recipient should get under initiatives like the Nutrition Assistance Program, the Women, Infants and Children program and Medicaid.

The rebasing is needed because of the disparity of commodity prices and availability within the CNMI, said Commerce Secretary Michael Ada.

Some items on Saipan are cheaper than on Tinian and Rota because of the extra costs to ship them to the islands. And some of the items used in the CPI aren’t even available on Rota and Tinian, Ada said.

Although data is collected from all over the CNMI, Ada said these two issues could influence the final numbers.

“Having the lower cost here misrepresents the high costs there,” he said.

NAP was having issues because of the price disparities between the islands. For example, Saipan food stamp recipients can often buy more if the allotment is based on price commodities on Saipan.

Another way to reflect the islands’ price discrepancies is to do a separate CPI for each of the islands, Ada said, but that is not the optimal solution because it’s too costly.

The CPI was created in 1977 and rebased in 2003. Currently 762 items divided in nine groups make up the CPI.