Purchasing Power Parity Preliminary Report

The 2005 round of the International Comparison Program in Asia and the Pacific region (ICP Asia Pacific) has achieved a number of milestones. The simultaneous participation of the People's Republic of China and India, which together account for 64% of the total real gross domestic product of the 23 participating economies, was a first for the ICP and significantly increased the coverage of the round. In addition, the diversity in the economies in terms of size, geography, and statistical capacities was overcome as the 23 participating economies worked harmoniously to generate price and national accounts data that are broadly comparable. Further, the estimates of purchasing power parities in this round are far more robust than previous rounds because of improvements in methodology, data collection, data review, and data processing. Finally, the ICP Asia Pacific has established the technical know-how and institutional requirements that future ICP rounds could build on.