Improving Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices

ongoing

Price statistics are needed for monitoring price stability in the euro area and inflation convergence in the EU. The harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) is the reference indicator for this purpose, and it is used in particular for monetary policy. The compilation of the HICP is based on Regulation (EU) 2016/792 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on harmonised indices of consumer prices and the house price index and on Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1148 of 31 July 2020 laying down the methodological and technical specifications. Since the HICP plays an important role in providing information for economic and monetary policy makers, its quality should be ensured beyond legal requirement. This means incorporating methodological and structural improvements, therefore this project will cover possibilities to apply new methodologies for analysis in the area of transaction data using superlative methods and to incorporate games of chance price statistics into the HICP calculation.