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Harmonised index of consumer prices: update on methodological developments
Significant changes (January 2000 index); estimates of the effect of the new regulations; other methodological developments.
The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) has been developed as a comparable measure of inflation for Member States of the European Union, as required by the Maastricht Treaty. It is published monthly. Since its launch in 1997, a number of methodological changes to the HICP have been developed and agreed by the Member States of the European Union, in conjunction with Eurostat.
The main focus of this article is to describe the significant changes which came into effect with the January 2000 index, in particular:
Extension of the coverage of goods and services in the HICP; Harmonisation and extension of the geographical and population coverage of the weights; Changes to the classification system.
The article presents estimates of the effect of these new Regulations on the UK HICP and summarises other methodological developments since the HICP was launched.
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