Improving the coverage of the HICP: household income groups and compliance monitoring improvements

2026-07-22

Work Package 1: Measuring Inflation by Income Groups This work package explores the feasibility of compiling a Belgian Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) by income group, following Eurostat’s March 2025 proposal (PSWG18-2025-08). Experimental indices will be calculated for the past 10 years, using methods such as adjusting expenditure weights and exploring different price samples. Data sources include the Household Budget Survey (HBS) and/or experimental distributional national accounts. In-depth analyses will assess if current data sources suffice or if new investments are needed. Topics like “cheapflation,” income-related tariffs (e.g., energy prices), and regional disparities in income will also be examined. Stakeholder consultation via the CPI board and active participation in a Eurostat task force are planned. Work Package 2: Using Web-Scraping for Flights Responding to a Eurostat recommendation from the 2024 HICP Compliance Monitoring Report, this work package aims to automate flight price collection for the Belgian HICP. A collaboration with Amadeus enables access to flight pricing data via API, replacing the manual collection from fixed destinations. Using R scripts, the project will automate data retrieval, expand destination coverage, improve data collection frequency, and assess the feasibility of converting these data into a price index to replace the existing manual price collection.

Belgium

2026-02-01