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Consumer Price Indices - Detailed Information

HICP - Harmonised index of consumer prices

Harmonised index of consumer prices

Harmonised indices of consumer prices (HICP) in the European Union were built in response to the need of having comparable consumer price indices enabling us to measure the trends of inflation in EU member states as a criterion for membership of the Monetary Union. There are no expectations, however, that the HICP would substitute the national consumer price indices. Many technical aspects of HICP calculation are used in national indices anyway. For example, having one set of sampling rules for the national CPI and another for the HICP would not be cost effective. We assume that the national indices and the HICP are likely to converge in the future.

There are certain differences between the structure of the consumer basket for the Czech Republic’s national CPI and that for the HICP. The HICP weights include revenue from non-residents spending in the Czech Republic but they do not include imputed rentals. On the other hand, the national CPI weights do not include non-residents spending but they do include imputed rentals.

Starting from 2001, in compliance with the rules for candidate countries, the Czech Republic provides Eurostat with the indices of consumer prices whose calculation incorporates all methodological and computation procedures of harmonisation. According to current standards for candidate countries, the HICP is fully comparable with the HICP of other countries from the beginning of 2001.


H I C P ( corresponding month of the previous year = 100)
Apr 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
Apr 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
EU 27
102,2
102,1
102,1
102,0p
Czech Republic
102,7
102,4
102,6
102,5
Belgium
101,8
101,3
101,3
101,3
Denmark
101,7
101,7
101,3
101,1
Germany
102,0
102,0
102,0
102,0
Estonia
105,6
105,9
106,0
106,5
Greece
102,6
102,6
102,6
102,7
Cyprus
101,6
101,9
101,7
102,3
Spain
102,5
102,4
102,5
102,3
Latvia
108,8
107,8
108,9
109,5
France
101,3
101,2
101,3
101,2
Lithuania
104,9
105,0
105,0
105,1
Ireland
102,9
102,7
102,8
102,7
Hungary
108,7
108,4
108,5
108,3
Italy
101,8
101,9
101,9
101,7
Malta
98,9
99,0
99,4
99,8
Luxembourg
102,5
102,3
102,3
102,0
Poland
102,2
102,3
102,6
102,5
Netherlands
101,9
102,0
101,8
101,4p
Slovenia
102,9
103,1
103,8
104,0
Austria
101,8
101,9
101,9
102,0p
Slovakia
102,0
101,5
101,5
101,2
Portugal
102,8
102,4
102,4
102,3
Sweden
101,6
101,2
101,3
101,4
Finland
101,5
101,3
101,4
101,6
United Kingdom
102,8
102,5
102,4
101,9
Bulgaria
104,4
104,5
105,3
106,8
Romania
103,8
103,9
103,9
104,1

* p - preliminary
r - revised
Source: Eurostat