CHANGES TO THE CPI PUBLICATION

This information paper describes changes to selected Consumer Price Index series from the March quarter 2015. This publication will be released on Wednesday 22 April 2015. The ABS will:

• publish the Weighted median and Trimmed mean index numbers to four decimal places. The percentage changes will be calculated from these index numbers; and
• publish seasonally adjusted indexes for the CPI groups.

CHANGES TO SELECTED CPI SERIES

The Weighted median and Trimmed mean index numbers will be published to four decimal places in the time series spreadsheets. The percentage changes will be calculated from these index numbers and published to one decimal place. The full time series of these percentage changes will be recalculated and released with the March quarter 2015 issue. The Index numbers for both the Weighted median and Trimmed mean will be released in the time series spreadsheet "TABLE 8 CPI: Analytical Series, Weighted Average of Eight Capital Cities". The percentage changes will be published in "TABLE 8. Analytical Series, Weighted Average of Eight Capital Cities" in the publication.

The following graphic illustrates the new presentation of the Weighted median and Trimmed mean in the publication:

Also from the March quarter 2015, the ABS will include seasonally adjusted indexes for the CPI groups in the time series spreadsheet "TABLE 15. CPI: Expenditure Class Index Numbers, Seasonally adjusted, Weighted Average of Eight Capital Cities". This table will be renamed to take account of the change. This spreadsheet will include each of the 11 CPI groups and selected analytical series for International exposure: Tradables and Non-tradables. These 13 new series have new series identifiers. The series identifiers for the CPI Expenditure class series are unchanged. Incorporating these new series has changed the location of the previous series (rows in the Index sheet, and columns in the Data1 sheet). Users who have developed automated extractions that make use of series being located in specific rows or columns need to know that CPI Expenditure class series have moved.

MOCKUPS OF THE TIME SERIES SPREADSHEETS

Mockups of both affected named time series spreadsheets are available from the Downloads tab. The mockup also includes details of changes to location.

New series introduced into this time series spreadsheet are:

Extract of TABLE 15. CPI: Group, Expenditure Class and Selected Analytical Series Index Numbers, Seasonally adjusted, Weighted Average of Eight Capital Cities
Data Item Description	Series Type	Series ID	Series Change
Index Numbers ; Food and non-alcoholic beverages ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032597C	New
Index Numbers ; Alcohol and tobacco ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032598F	New
Index Numbers ; Clothing and footwear ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032564J	New
Index Numbers ; Housing ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032572J	New
Index Numbers ; Furnishings, household equipment and services ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032565K	New
Index Numbers ; Health ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032541T	New
Index Numbers ; Transport ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032573K	New
Index Numbers ; Communication ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032586W	New
Index Numbers ; Recreation and culture ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032542V	New
Index Numbers ; Education ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032587X	New
Index Numbers ; Insurance and financial services ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032553A	New
Index Numbers ; Tradables ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032536X	New
Index Numbers ; Non-tradables ; Australia ;	Seasonally Adjusted	A85032583R	New