Harmonization of work on prices among national accounting, CPI and ICP

Abstract

Analysts and policy makers have recognized the International Comparison Programme (ICP) as a rich source of detailed price and expenditure data which permit analysis of price and real GDP structures on an internationally comparable basis. To make it easier for developing countries to par­ ticipate in ICP and make the data more policy relevant, ICP needs to be harmonized with regular data work in national accounting and Consumer Price Index (CPI). To accomplish this, several steps should be taken: ICP specifications should be built up from CPI items to reduce collection cost and increase representativeness; a sampling frame should be used to make the average truly representative of all locations and market types; price samples should be consistent with those of national accounts so as to keep the underlying quantities comparable; and a system of quality correction should be in­ troduced to improve comparability of prices across countries with different levels of development and market conditions. The World Bank is working with UNST AT and various regional coordinators to implement these steps.