On New International Standard in Compilation of Price Statistics and Review of Practices in CIS Countries

Abstract

The article reviews the key provisions of the new International standard on computation of the consumer prices index (CPI) developed by a number of international organizations (ILO, IMF, Eurostat, OECD) as well as the application of this standard by the CIS countries. Special attention is paid to the issues associated with the choice of index formula and the methods of measuring the impact of changes of quality of goods and services on CPI. One of the key provisions of the new standard is the requirement that CPI should measures «pure» price changes which exclude the impact of changes of quality of goods and services The review of the practices of the statistical services of the CIS countries makes it possible to conclude that a more consistent application of the international standard on CPI would secure better accuracy of index and international comparability of data.