The price statistics team at ESCWA conducted a workshop to introduce the HCPI and provide a comprehensive and applied explanation of the computation methodology to the countries taking part in this initiative.
The price statistics team at ESCWA developed an innovative initiative entailing the computation of a Harmonized Consumer Price Index in the Arab region. The project is being piloted first in 6 ESCWA member countries, namely Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine and Sudan. The price statistics team at ESCWA developed a computation methodology specific to the HCPI covering the different steps involved in the computation process, both at the national and regional/sub-regional levels, and conducted a workshop to train representatives from the pilot countries on the computation of the index.
The workshop was attended by 19 participants from the 6 pilot ESCWA member countries and included:
- An introduction of the HCPI, its purpose, the different steps of index calculation, the participating countries, and the integration it achieves between the CPI and the ICP;
- A detailed explanation of the final computation methodology covering list harmonization, base period, price reference period and price source, weight reference period and weight source, calculation at the elementary aggregate level and the higher-level indices, chaining, rebasing and sub-regional/regional aggregation;
- A numerical example showcasing the different stages of the national HCPI computation;
- A presentation of special cases and challenges and how to deal with them;
- A presentation of the dissemination and release strategy.
