International Comparison Program 2005: Activities

To calculate robust PPP estimates for 2005, the project undertook various activities for the following years:

2008 Activities

Technical Meetings/Discussions on ICP-CPI Harmonization
21 August-7 September 2008, Philippines, India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia

With technical support from the World Bank, ADB conducted bilateral meetings and technical discussions on the Harmonization of the International Comparison Program - Purchasing Power Parities/Consumer Price Indices (ICP-PPP/CPI) with the Heads and price statisticians of the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) of the above-cited developing member countries (DMCs). The meetings were conducted primarily to achieve the following: (i) discuss the mainstreaming of ICP-PPP with CPI-related work of CSO India; (ii) study and demonstrate the applicability of PPP concepts and methodologies in the context of intra-country (subnational) comparisons and related work using the country’s CPI data; and (iii) present the proposed methodologies and approaches to update the 2005 PPP to 2009 via a reduced list with the aim of encouraging country participation in the 2009 PPP Updates.

The technical discussions were conducted to provide lasting support to the NSOs by providing hands-on training on intra-country and sub-national price validation, and in comparing prices at the sub national level using the principles, approaches, methodologies and frameworks of the ICP. The meetings provided some benchmarks and pilot case studies under which methodological improvements can be drawn for future rounds of the ICP.

Workshop on ICP-CPI Harmonization
16-18 January 2008, New Delhi, India

Price experts from twenty ADB member-economies met to discuss how the International Comparison Program (ICP) could make more extensive use of available national Consumer Price Index (CPI) data and instruments. Mr. Michael Ward, ICP Asia Pacific consultant, led the discussions.

As an offshoot of the project, the paper "Integration of Consumer Price Indices and the International Comparison Program for the Asia and Pacific Region: How can They be Achieved?" was released as an ADB Economics Working Paper Series.

2007 Activities

Poverty Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) Results Review Workshop
4-5 October, ADB Headquarters, Manila, Philippines

The workshop discussed the methodology for computing poverty PPPs and reviewed preliminary poverty PPP results. Discussions concentrated on the review and validation of Poverty-PPP estimates using two approaches: one derived using the ICP Poverty Advisory Group methodology utilizing ICP Regional Basic Headings PPPs; and the other, PPPs derived from Poverty Specific Price Survey data. Both estimates used household expenditure weights for the poor derived from household expenditure surveys.

Release of preliminary 2005 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) results
31 July, ADB Headquarters, Manila, Philippines

A media briefing was held in July 2007 to formally release the 2005 preliminary PPP results to the public with the heads of the national implementing agencies of ICP Asia Pacific among the special guests, as stakeholders of the program. The final report, 2005 International Comparison Program for Asia and the Pacific: Purchasing Power Parity Preliminary Reportwas released in December 2007.

Meeting of Heads of ICP Asia Pacific National Implementing Agencies
30 July, ADB Headquarters, Manila , Philippines

A meeting of the Heads of the national implementing agencies of ICP Asia Pacific was  convened  to discuss the highlights of the preliminary PPP results; lessons learned from the program and future directions.

Seventh Meeting of the ICP Asia Pacific Regional Advisory Board
22 June, ADB Headquarters, Manila , Philippines,

The meeting was called to discuss the methodology for computing PPPs for dwellings and compensation; comment on the draft report for preliminary PPP results; and decide on the categories of release for the publication of PPP results.

Workshop to Review Preliminary PPP Results
18-21 June, Manila, Philippines,

The meeting's main objective was to conduct preliminary PPP results validation. Discussions concentrated on resolving concerns/issues/clarifications relating to the preliminary results before release on 31 July 2007.

Workshop to Review PPP Results
29-31 March, Kathmandu, Nepal

National price statisticians of all the 23 participating countries met to review preliminary full GDP PPP results. In order to meet the schedule for the release of ICP results, countries agreed on the timeline for the submission of revised/validated data. Countries appreciated the analysis of the preliminary PPP results.

Data Review Workshop for Poverty Data
26-28 March, Kathmandu, Nepal

National price statisticians of 16 DMCs participating in the poverty sensitivity study were convened to discuss price data validation issues/concerns. Since the special poverty price surveys were conducted in 2006, price data needed to be calibrated to July 2005 to coincide with the main ICP data which uses 2005 as the reference year.

Second Meeting of the Core Group of Equipment Experts
12-15 March, ADB Headquarters, Manila

The Core Group of Equipment Experts met to make a final assessment of equipment price data to ensure product parity for the estimation of equipment PPPs.

Second Meeting of the Core Group of Construction Experts
7-9 March, ADB Headquarters, Manila

The Core Group of Construction Experts met to make a final assessment of construction price data to ensure product parity for the estimation of construction PPPs.

  • Regional Advisory Board Meeting, ADB Headquarters, Manila
  • Release of preliminary and final PPPs

2006 Activities

Data Review Workshop for Household Consumption, Dwellings and Compensation
14-16 December, Bangkok, Thailand, attended by 23 countries

Annual household consumption (including dwellings, health and education) price data underwent a final validation review. Government compensation data were also reviewed. The workshop aimed to establish product parity for the computation of robust PPPs.

Data Review Workshop for Equipment
11-13 December, Bangkok, Thailand, attended by 22 countries

An international equipment expert provided technical guidance in conducting the data review for equipment. The workshop aimed at establishing product parity for the computation of robust PPPs.

Data Review Workshop for Construction
7-9 December, Bangkok, Thailand, attended by 22 countries

International construction experts provided technical guidance in conducting the data review for construction aimed at establishing product parity for the computation of robust PPPs.

First Meeting of the Core Group of Construction Experts
16-18 October, ADB Headquarters, Manila

The core group of construction experts from four participating countries convened to make an initial assessment of the construction price data submissions. Most of the participating countries engaged domestic experts for the sector as expertise for construction is unavailable in most of the NSOs.

First Meeting of the Core Group of Equipment Experts
11-13 October, ADB Headquarters, Manila

The core group of equipment experts from five participating countries convened to make an initial assessment of the equipment price data. Most of the participating countries engaged domestic experts for the sector as expertise for equipment is unavailable in most of the NSOs.

Sixth Regional Advisory Board Meeting
21-22 August, ADB Headquarters, Manila

Important agreements reached included the extrapolation of missing prices and differences in the temporal coverage of price surveys, and deriving national level figures from sub-national level data; PPP-based poverty methodology; release schedule of preliminary and final PPPs; and policy access to ICP micro data.

Ring Data Review Workshop
26-29 June, ADB Headquarters, Manila, attended by 4 countries

With experts from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the ring data workshop was conducted to validate ring survey data for the ring comparison covering nineteen countries from six ICP regions. The ring comparison will generate a set of PPPs linking all the regions into a global comparison. Hong Kong, China; Malaysia; Philippines, and Sri Lanka are the Asia Pacific ring countries. The following were provided at the workshop.

Presentations Discussion materials
PPP Presentation [Presentation: 123kb]
Ring Methods [Presentation: 159kb]
CPD presentation and residuals [Presentation: 648kb]		 ICP Ring Survey Guidelines [PDF: 220kb]
Representivity [PDF: 63kb]
1993 System of National Accounts [PDF: 76kb]
Electricity example [XLS: 25kb]

Expert Group Meeting on Extrapolation Methodology
19-20 June, ADB Headquarters, Manila

The Regional Office constituted an Expert Group to examine various methodologies available and recommend a suitable methodology to derive national average prices for the ICP product list; and national GDP weights for 155 basic headings from average prices and GDP weights from the People's Republic of China 's 11-city data. The group was chaired by Prasada Rao, ICP Asia Pacific consultant. The other experts came from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, World Bank, National Bureau of Statistics of China, and the Asian Development Bank.

Finalization Workshop on the Poverty Product List
16-17 June, Jakarta, Indonesia, attended by 16 countries

The workshop finalized the list of poverty items for the sensitivity analysis study which requires additional price surveys from outlets patronized by the poor.

Subregional Data Review Workshops for Household Consumption Items
12-15 June, Jakarta, Indonesia with BPS, attended by 9 countries
21-24 June, ADB Headquarters, Manila, attended by 5 countries
11-14 July, New Delhi, India with Central Statistical Organization of India, attended by 6 countries
11-15 September, ADB Headquarters, Manila, attended by 2 countries

The data review for household consumption data for all the quarters of 2005 was conducted in a series of sub-regional workshops to further ensure product parity for PPP computation.

Second Regional Course on Price Statistics and the International Comparison Program
5-9 June, Jakarta, Indonesia

The regional course was jointly organized by the UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific and; Statistics Indonesia with resource persons from the International Labor Organization and ADB. Twenty two middle level managers from national statistical offices were trained on: (i) Fundamentals and concepts of CPI and ICP, (ii) International standards and framework of CPI and ICP, and (iii) ICP data compilation and calculation techniques. The ICP component of the course comprising of theory and practical exercises covered the following areas:

National Accounts Data Review Workshop
10-12 May, ADB Headquarters, Manila, attended by 22 countries

National Accounts experts attended the data review workshop to: (i) validate GDP expenditure weights to ensure reliability and comparability of GDP weights across participating countries in the Asia Pacific region, (ii) share best practices in the disaggregation of GDP into the required 155 basic headings (BHs); (iii) formulate possible solutions relating to GDP weights estimation including BHs with zero weights; (iv) discuss metadata with special reference to the 1993 SNA; and (v) confirm submission dates for the 2005 GDP weights for the final PPPs.

Collection of Prices for Other Product Groups

Price data collection for health and education were mostly conducted in the first quarter of 2006 while a few countries also carried out price surveys in 2005. Government compensation and dwellings data were also submitted in 2005.

Collection of Prices for Construction and Equipment

Most of the countries undertook price data collection for Construction and Equipment in the second and third quarters of 2006.

2005 Activities

Conduct of ICP Price Surveys for Household Consumption/Validation of Prices at the country and regional levels

Price collection for household consumption items began in January 2005 in most of the participating countries. Survey operations in India and Sri Lanka started in April and March, respectively, due to the tsunami calamity in late December 2004. Quarterly ICP household consumption price surveys were conducted for 2005.
Participating countries submited internally validated price data to the Regional Office for further validation through bilateral discussions and data review workshops. These validated data will be used in the computation of PPPs.

Fifth Meeting of the Regional Advisory Board
8-9 December, ADB Headquarters, Manila

The fifth meeting of the RAB, discussed and agreed on the following: (i) Selection of Ms. Carmelita Ericta, Administrator of Philippines' National Statistics Office as Chair of the RAB; (ii) Updates on global and regional developments; (iii) Requirements for participation in the current ICP round; (iv) Submission of data to GO and RO; (v) Data review issues and actions taken; (vi) Poverty PPPs; (vii) Other household sectors and non-household sectors; (viii) ToolPack concerns; (ix) Ring comparison; (x) Advocacy issues; and (xi) Funding issues.

Equipment Workshop
1-3 December, ADB Headquarters, Manila, attended by 20 countries

The RO and the GO jointly organized the workshop, with the international consultant for equipment as resource person. Participants were the ICP national coordinators or senior price statisticians and equipment experts of the participating countries. The list of equipment items for pricing was finalized and indicative brands and models were identified, prior to the finalization of the equipment product list.

Construction Workshop
28-30 November, ADB Headquarters, Manila, attended by 21 countries

The workshop was jointly organized by the RO and the GO, with the international consultant for construction as resource person. Participants were the ICP national coordinators or senior price statisticians, and construction experts of the participating countries. The Basket of Construction Components (BOCC) Approach was explained for pricing 34 construction components. Also, an overview of the concepts of the System of National Accounts in construction was presented by a National Accounts expert. Participants were able to clarify a number of issues regarding construction components during a short visit to a construction project.

Data Review Workshop (DRW) for household consumption products
23-26 November, ADB Headquarters, Manila, attended by 22 countries

The workshop focused primarily on evaluating the results of the implementation of the decisions taken in the previous DRWs to improve data quality.

Poverty Workshop
21-22 November, ADB Headquarters, Manila, attended by 17 coutnries

The regional workshop was held for 17 ADB DMCs participating in the poverty-PPP project. The workshop provided an overview of the project and the methodology to be used in poverty-specific PPP computation by taking the BH PPPs in the mainstream ICP and then applying weights from the consumption patterns of the poor as estimated from existing household expenditure surveys. Funds for Poverty PPP compilation come from the Poverty Reduction Cooperation Fund.

Data Review Workshop (DRW) for Second Quarter ICP Price Surveys
28 September-5 October, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, attended by 22 countries

In its continuing efforts to improve data quality, a single DRW for second quarter data was held for all participating countries. The workshop was co-sponsored by Malaysia's Department of Statistics.

First Regional Course on Price and the ICP
25-29 September, Malé, Maldives

The UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific organized the course to introduce the ICP to the countries. A two day course on ICP concepts and methodology was  conducted by the ICP Asia Pacific Regional Office.

Workshop on the Preparation for the Remaining Product Lists
1-6 August, AIT, Bangkok, attended by 23 countries

A finalization workshop was conducted to complete the product lists for: Health; Education; Government Compensation; Construction; Machinery and Equipment; and Dwellings, for pricing in late 2005 and early 2006. These will complete the price inputs for PPP computation.

Data Review Workshops for First Quarter ICP Price Surveys
4-8 July, ADB Headquarters, Manila, attended by 4 countries
8-12 August, AIT, Bangkok, attended by 8 countries
29 August-2 September, AIT, Bangkok, 9 countries

The RO conducted Data Review Workshops, by batches, for first quarter data to improve the comparability and reliability of ICP price data.

Second Ring List Workshop
28 June-2 July, ADB Headquarters, Manila

The Global Office held the second ring list workshop for the Asia-Pacific ring countries: Hong Kong, China; Malaysia; Philippines; and Sri Lanka. The workshop identified the representativity of the products and provided feedback on product specifications in the draft list drawn from the product lists of all the ICP regions.

Training on ToolPack 1.2
13-15 June, AIT, Bangkok, attended by 7 countries
16-18 June, AIT, Bangkok, attended by 7 countries

To introduce ToolPack version 1.2, trainings were held for countries using the Price Collection Module (PCM) for data entry. One of the new features highlighted was the data transfer facility from the countries to the Regional Office.

Fourth Meeting of the Regional Advisory Board (RAB)
23-24 May, ADB Headquarters, Manila

The RAB's agenda included the following: (i) updates on ICP global and regional developments, (ii) finalization of the product list for the non-household groups, (iii) country review strategy, (iv) ToolPack 1.2 updates including data transfer and validation, (v) ring comparison program, (vi) Poverty PPPs, and (vii) advocacy campaign. Mr. Frederick Ho, Commissioner of the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, is the RAB Chairperson.


Training on ToolPack 1.2
14-15 April, ADB Headquarters, Manila
18-19 April, NSO, Manila, Philippines,
20-22 April, ADB Headquarters, Manila, attended by 6 Countries
27 April, MSPI, New Delhi, India

The GO conducted training on the new features of ToolPack. These included the data transfer facility from the countries to the RO; use of the Batch Upload Utility (BUU) Function for countries not using ToolPack PCM for price data entry; and the regional component of ToolPack. Training for the Philippines was conducted at its National Statistics Office to evaluate ToolPack in a "real" environment.

National Accounts Workshop and Submission of GDP weights
15-17 February, AIT, Bangkok, Thailand

The workshop aimed to provide guidance on estimating expenditure weights for the Basic Headings (BHs) and to exchange information and experience among the participants. During the workshop, seventeen countries provided preliminary GDP weights for private final consumption expenditures based on latest data available. A number of methods were discussed and agreed upon on how to fill up data gaps/disaggregate data into the required number of BHs; and how to make the national accounts coverage consistent with the recommendations of the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA).

Ring List Workshop
31 January-11 February, ADB Headquarters, Manila

The Global Office (GO) held the ring list workshop for the ring countries in the Asia Pacific region: Hong Kong, China; Malaysia; Philippines; and Sri Lanka. The objective of the workshop was to downsize the combined list from all six ICP regions into a more manageable list. The ring list contains the product specifications to be priced for the ring comparison and will also link all the six ICP regions to obtain a single set of transitive parities at the global level. The data collection for the Ring comparison was scheduled for the 1st quarter of 2006.

2004 Activities

Third Meeting of the Regional Advisory Board
9 July, ADB Headquarters, Manila

The meeting discussed and agreed on the following: (i) the election of Mr. Frederick Ho, Commissioner of the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, as the RAB chair (ii) membership of the Philippines to the Board in place of Singapore, which had opted out of the RAB; (iii) reference year was moved from 2004 to 2005; (iv) Hong Kong, China; Malaysia; Philippines; and Sri Lanka were invited to participate in the ring comparison; and (v) endorsement of the proposed PPP-based poverty estimation methodology.

Workshop on Product Specification, Phase II
5-15 July, ADB Headquarters, Manila, attended by 22 countries

National coordinators met to prepare phase II of the household product list, covering services related to  dwelling, furnishings, transport, communication, and other services. This completed the household consumption product list.

Sub-Regional Workshop on "Training of Trainors" for Price Surveys.
22-27 March, Putrajaya, Malaysia, attended by 12 countries
29 March-3 April, Goa, India, attended by 10 countries

Two sub-regional workshops were held in March and April 2004. The session for East and Southeast Asian countries was held in Putrajaya, Malaysia, while the South Asian countries met in Goa, India. The workshops trained country price statisticians who will conduct the trainings for price surveys in their respective countries. The workshops also provided the venue for deciding on the methods for estimating national and annual average prices; and data collection timetables. There was also a session on the computation of PPPs.

Workshop on Product Specification, Phase I (Food, clothing & footwear)

26 January - 6 February, AIT, Bangkok, Thailand
Participants met to agree on the regional product list for food, clothing and footwear; start work on the rest of the household consumption product list; and identify items for the poverty basket for PPP-based poverty measures. This list will be the basis for conducting price surveys. Following are the workshop materials:

In-Country Training of Price Collectors

The Regional Office assisted the participating countries in the conduct of in-country training programs for price collectors for ICP price surveys and ToolPack. This training was conducted in eighteen countries: Bangladesh; Bhutan; Cambodia; the People's Republic of China (PRC); Fiji; India; Indonesia; the Lao People's Democratic Republic; Malaysia; Maldives; Mongolia; Nepal; Pakistan; Philippines; Sri Lanka; Taipei,China; Thailand; and Viet Nam. The ICP Global Office assisted in the ToolPack training for the PRC and the Philippines, while the Australian Bureau of Statistics also provided the PRC additional training on the conduct of ICP price surveys in rural areas.

2003 Activities

Second Meeting of the Regional Advisory Board
15-16 December, ADB Headquarters, Manila

The meeting discussed progress made after the first RAB meeting in June and launching of ICP Asia Pacific in July. Other matters discussed were: (i) level of participation of Asia Pacific countries; (ii) development of the product list; (iii) funding and staffing situation; and (iv) detailed work program for 2004 and 2005  

ICP Regional Inception Workshop
28 July-1 August, AIT, Bangkok, Thailand

This workshop formally launched the 2005 Round of ICP in the Asia Pacific region. It was attended by a price statistician and a national accountant from each of the participating DMCs; resource persons from the World Bank and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as well as observers from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Aside from the meeting being successful in outlining the core features of the program, the participants also fully understood their roles and discussed in great detail the ICP work program for 2003 to 2006. The support shown by the participating DMCs is expected to get ICP off to a good start.

Meeting of NSO Heads of ICP Participating Countries
19-20 June, AIT, Bangkok, Thailand

The two-day meeting was organized to enjoin the support of heads of national statistical offices (NSOs) of participating ADB developing member countries (DMCs) in implementing ICP in the countries. It contributed in forging a better appreciation of the new ICP initiatives and in establishing a well-coordinated and effective national, regional and global management structure. The body also agreed on a Framework of Partnership (FOP) outlining the respective roles and responsibilities of the Regional Coordinator and the participating countries.

First Meeting of the Regional Advisory Board
18 June, AIT, Bangkok, Thailand

The meeting discussed the following: (i) new governance structure of the program; (ii) technical aspects of the current round; and, (iii) ICP Asia Pacific workprogram and resource requirements.

ICP Toolpack pilot testing--ToolPack, the ICP/CPI software was developed in preparation for the 2005 ICP round, with the World Bank staff doing the pilot testing in three Asian capitals - Manila (ADB Headquarters), Beijing, and New Delhi in March 2003.

Preparation of Advocacy Paper on ICP

ADB commissioned Dr. Sultan Ahmad, an ICP expert, to prepare the paper which details the importance of PPP data to the countries.