ESCWA is organizing this regional meeting that brings together national statistical offices and representatives of the World Bank to advance two complementary and mutually reinforcing priorities:
- Modernizing Consumer Price Statistics using innovative data sources, digital technologies, and internationally recognized methodologies. The meeting promotes the exchange of country experiences on digital consumption, automated price collection, price monitoring and key Consumer Price Index compilation issues. It also supports regional implementation of the Harmonized Consumer Price Index and the transition to the Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose 2018.
- Strengthening Purchasing Power Parities production by improving the quality, consistency, and comparability of data submitted under the International Comparison Program. Through practical validation exercises, participants review International Comparison Program survey data and national accounts expenditures, identify outliers and cross-country discrepancies, assess regional progress, discuss preliminary Purchasing Power Parities results and agree on a roadmap for final data submission.
The meeting concludes with a summary of the main outcomes, agreement on the remaining actions required from participating countries and the establishment of a roadmap for completing final data submissions.
Muscat, Oman
