The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices for Germany

Transcription

1 Dipl.-Kaufmann Günther Elbel, Jürgen Preißmann The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices for Germany Differences between the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices and the Consumer Price Index for Germany Both the Consumer Price Index and the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices for Germany were substantially revised at the beginning of this year. In the context of this revision, updated weighting patterns were introduced and methodological improvements incorporated. Although the individual measures were almost the same for both indices, the effects on their results have differed due to differences in practical implementation. This paper outlines the differences between the above price indices and quantifies the effects caused by them. Furthermore, it facilitates an interpretation of the current results of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices. Preliminary note In addition to the national Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Federal Statistical Office publishes a Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for Germany. This paper describes the similarities and differences between the two consumer price indices. Common data basis, different purposes Both the CPI and the HICP are derived from a common data basis. The same is true for the computation of weighting patterns and the monthly price collection 1 ). For this reason, the information provided on how weighting patterns are constructed and prices are collected for CPI purposes 2 ) largely applies to the HICP, too. As partly, however, these price indices are designed for different purposes, their delimitation and calculation are characterised by differences, too. The common and central goal of the two indices is inflation measurement. Additionally, the CPI serves to a large extent as a compensation measure for stable-value clauses (price escalator clauses) in private-law contracts. Furthermore, its individual components are used for deflation purposes, i.e. for converting nominal into real values. This applies in particular to some aggregates of national accounts. The HICP focuses on inflation measurement. In this context, particular importance is attached to the fact that the index is calculated based on an internationally comparable procedure and can therefore be used to aggregate price indices at the European level, for instance, for the European Union (EU) as a whole or the euro area. Also, the HICP is a highly important convergence criterion. As one of the central criteria it serves to decide whether a given EU Member State will be admitted to the euro area. The European Central Bank uses the Monetary Union HICP as the central standard of monetary stability. Chart 1 compares the CPI and HICP trends since January 25. At a first glance, the discrepancies seem to be rather small. However, the monthly rates of price increase (compared with the corresponding months of the previous year) in Chart 2 reveal partly remarkable differences. Chart 2 1) The price data collected on a monthly basis for consumer price statistics are also used to compile an index of retail prices and an index of hotel and restaurant prices. 2) Cf., for instance, Elbel, G./Egner, U.: Verbraucherpreisstatistik auf neuer Basis 25 (Consumer price statistics on new base 25) in Wista 4/28, p. 339 et seqq. Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) German version published in Wirtschaft und Statistik 8/28, p. 681 et seqq. 1

2 Chart 1 Relatives 11 Comparison of the trends of the Consumer Price Index and the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices 25 = 1 Relatives Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices Consumer Price Index 1 98 J A J O J A J O J A J O J A J shows the differences between these rates of price increase in percentage points. 3 ) The following paragraphs will outline the differences between the CPI and the HICP. In addition, an attempt will be made to relate the discrepancies shown in Chart 2 to the different methodological approaches. Differences in coverage Generally, both the CPI and the HICP are designed to measure the price trends in the consumption expenditure of households in the domestic territory. However, there are differences as far as the details are concerned. With respect to coverage, these differences relate to the following items: owner-occupied housing games of chance, and motor vehicle tax, licensing fee While the above categories of expenditure are covered in the national CPI, they are not included in the HICP. The CPI covers the expenditure for owner-occupied housing in accordance with the rent equivalence approach. This means that the level of expenditure for owner-occupied housing is imputed based on the amounts spent on comparable rental property. The approach is in line with the concepts of national accounts although it is rather suited to meet the requirements of a compensation measure. Regarding a pure inflation standard like the HICP, a net purchase approach would be more adequate. This approach would require to cover the cost of buying residential property and all costs incurred in relation to buying and owning that residential property. Together with the national statistical offices, Eurostat is currently working on a house price index 4 ). However, the results have not yet been included in the HICP calculation. Theoretically service charges, that is the gambling fees and stake money which are collected separately and are not, in the form of winnings, rechanneled into the household sector, should also be included in the consumer price index as household expenditure for games of chance. While the relevant expenditure is covered by the German CPI, it has so far not been included in the HICP due to recording problems in several Member States and for the sake of applying an internationally comparable methodology. Motor vehicle taxes and licensing fees are excise duties or charges similar to taxes which are not part of the consumption expenditure of households. Hence they are not covered by the HICP. Regarding the national CPI, however, another approach was chosen because the above excise duties pose a similar burden on households as, for instance, the mineral oil or value-added tax. The latter taxes are included 3) Here and in the following non-rounded results are used for computation purposes. This does not indicate a particularly high computational accuracy of the analysis, but is absolutely required to reveal little differences. 4) See also Dechent, J.: Preisstatistische Erfassung des selbst genutzten Wohn eigentums (Coverage of owner-occupied housing in terms of price statistics) in WiSta 11/24, p et seqq., Häuserpreisindex Entwicklungsstand und aktualisierte Ergebnisse (House price index state of development and updated results) in WiSta 12/26, p et seqq., and Häuserpreisindex Projektfortschritt und erste Ergebnisse für bestehende Wohngebäude (House price index state of the project and first results for existing residential buildings) in WiSta 1/28, p. 69 et seqq. 2 Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) German version published in Wirtschaft und Statistik 8/28, p. 681 et seqq.

3 Chart 2 Consumer Price Index and Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices Comparison of year-on-year change rates % 4 Consumer Price Index Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices % Differenc in rates of price increase in the consumer price indices as they are part of the selling prices of goods and services. Including motor vehicle taxes and licensing fees in the German CPI can be regarded as a concession to using the index as a compensation measure. Due to the different CPI and HICP coverage, the CPI and HICP weighting patterns differ, too. The table in the annex provides a comparison of the weighting patterns. The current weighting base is 25 for both indices. In line with the HICP approach, the weights for the current chain link (of 28) were price updated to the December 27 month. The relevant structures for the CPI were price updated to December 27, too, in order to avoid a disturbance of the comparison between the two weighting patterns due to price shifts that occurred between 25 and December ) To quantify the impact of the differences in the CPI and HICP coverage on the calculated inflation rates, the CPI (on base 2 = 1) was recalculated to consider the HICP coverage. The result is illustrated in Chart 3. As can be seen, the 5) The different practices of presenting the CPI and HICP weighting patterns are attributable to the fact that the CPI is compiled as a fixed-base index, whereas the HICP is a chain index with weights that change (theoretically) every year. Please see below for a more detailed explanation of this difference. Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) German version published in Wirtschaft und Statistik 8/28, p. 681 et seqq. 3

4 Chart 3.3 Impact of the smaller coverage of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices more comprehensive coverage of the CPI compared to the HICP had an impact on the results for 26 and 27 that cannot be neglected (up to +.3 percentage points). On the whole, the larger coverage of the CPI had a reinforcing effect on the CPI price trend in the period observed. The higher the HICP rate of price increase, the greater the difference to the smaller CPI rate of price increase. Indeed, this is plausible because the main difference lies in the fact that the weight of rents (including the rent equivalents of owner-occupied housing) is bigger in the CPI and, recently, rents have increased continuously, but very moderately. On the other hand, volatile price trends, for instance, in motor fuels, liquid fuel or food have a relatively greater impact on the HICP. The above discrepancies between the CPI and HICP results due to the differences in coverage, which were observed in the past (weighting base 2), have continued to exist after the introduction of the new weighting base 25. Different practical of the revision As a result of rebasing the CPI to the new index base year 25, additional discrepancies were observed between the CPI and the HICP for the years 25 to 28. These discrepancies are generally due to the different practical approaches taken to consider current consumption habits and to implement methodological changes in the CPI and the HICP. Such changes always have an adverse effect on the comparability of the results of computation. At the time the changes are incorporated price comparisons are impaired by structural effects so that pure price comparisons are not feasible. In line with the national German approach, these disturbances are to be considered in the values of past periods. Therefore, a recalculation of the CPI is required for previous periods (at the beginning of 28 for the years 25 to 27), which can be considered a disadvantage of this approach. However, the big advantage is the permanent availability of up-to-date time series which allow price comparisons without structural effects over a minimum period of three years. In addition, an analysis of the revision differences allows a quantification of the effects the individual measures have on the results. Unlike the CPI, the HICP does without a recalculation of the values of previous periods. It has incorporated the new consumption structures and new methods with effect from January 28. However, this makes it more difficult to evaluate the (monthly) inflation rates calculated in 28 as structural effects must be taken into consideration in addition to price effects. Regarding the CPI, the revision differences were analysed. 6 ) In the context of this paper, the results are applied to the HICP, too. In this way, the user will obtain the information required to interpret the current HICP results. Chart 4 illustrates the different CPI and HICP revision practices. The term old refers to the CPI and HICP results published until reference month December 27, whereas new relates to the results published from reference month January 28. As can be seen, the weights of the CPI are more up-to-date than those of the HICP after the revision of past results for the years 25 to 27. Disturbances resulting from structural changes had an adverse effect on the (monthly and annual) rates of price increase of the CPI in 25, while they affected the HICP-related rates in 28. In a similar manner, this also applies to the methodolog- 6) See Footnote 2. 4 Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) German version published in Wirtschaft und Statistik 8/28, p. 681 et seqq.

5 Chart 4 Revision practices regarding the Consumer Price Index and the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices Harmonised Index Consumer Price Index of Consumer Prices old new old new Weighting base 2 Revision period Weighting base 2! Weighting base Weighting base 2 Weighting base 2 Weighting base ical changes implemented now. They have been included in the CPI calculations, with retrospective effect, from reference year 25 and in the HICP calculations only from reference year 28.! Considering current consumption patterns In mid-27, important information for calculating new consumption patterns (for the year 25) became available in the area of the German consumer price statistics. Based on that information, new weighting patterns were computed for the consumer price indices until the end of ) As mentioned above, the times at which the new weighting patterns become effective differ between the CPI and the HICP. While the CPI results were recalculated based on the new structures from January 25, the HICP does without a recalculation of results and, instead, has incorporated the new structures from January 28 only. 8 ) Chart 5 illustrates the effects on the HICP data of not considering the reweighting results. The (old) CPI results recalculated to consider the HICP coverage were aggregated using the new weights. An HICP revision in accordance with the CPI rules would have reduced the HICP inflation rates by up to.2 percentage points for reweighting reasons alone. The chart shows the effects of doing without an early reweighting. The impact generally increases the rates of inflation. As is also shown by the results, however, this effect does not display a steady trend and decreases over time. The Table shows the weighting pattern for the German HICP for the period 25 to 28 (limited to COICOP twodigit headings). The weights indicated there differ between the calendar years. This is due to the fact that, in formal terms, the HICP is calculated as a chain index with annual Chart 5.3 Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices: Impact of not incorporating more current weights ) Please see Elbel, G.: Die Berechnung der Wägungsschemata für die Preisindizes für die Lebenshaltung (Computation of weighting patterns for consumer price indices) in WiSta 3/1999, p. 171 et seqq. for a detailed description of the construction of a weighting pattern. Basically, the information provided there still applies today. 8) Strictly speaking, these new structures only apply to the current link of the HICP chain index; the consumption patterns of previous base years still have an impact on the current overall results, too. Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) German version published in Wirtschaft und Statistik 8/28, p. 681 et seqq. 5

6 COICOP- HVPI 1 ) Weighting pattern for the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for Germany Item Weighting in per mill 2 ) Food and non-alcoholic beverages Alcoholic beverages, tobacco Clothing and footwear Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels Furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house Health Transport Communication Recreation and culture Education Restaurants and hotels Miscellaneous goods and services ) Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) in a version adapted to HICPs. 2) Consumption patterns are based on 2 data for the years 25 to 27, on 25 data from 28. reweighting. Hence the weights only apply to the relevant current chain link. The current chain link relates the prices of the reference month to the relevant prices of December of the previous year. Even if new weighting information is not available, a price adjustment of the weights has to be made. In the Table, the weights of the year 25 are based on the consumption patterns empirically determined for the year 2, which were price updated to December 24 by using product-specific price changes. In the same way, the consumption patterns of the year 2 were price updated to December 25 for the year 26 and to December 26 for the year ) Only the weights for the current chain link of 28 consider the new weighting information of the year 25 which, based on product-specific price trends, was price updated to the December 27 prices. Implementing the new EU Regulation regarding price collection periods As a rule, the new EU Regulation regarding the temporal coverage of price collection 1 ) stipulates that price collection shall take place across at least a one working week period near the middle of the calendar month. With respect to goods and services that are characterised by volatile price trends, the price collection period shall even exceed the above time. As Germany largely complied with the provisions of the above Regulation in the past, too, effects on the results can only be expected for very few products. As regards motor fuels, a certain smoothing effect can be expected on price fluctuations in the future though the index level as a whole should not be affected. An impact of implementing the above Regulation was also anticipated on the results for clothing due to the concentration of seasonal sales on two weeks each at the end of January/beginning of February and the end of July/beginning of August. This expectation was not confirmed by the empirically obtained data. However, changes in the seasonal were observed for the following three time series: air passenger transport package holidays accommodation services (rents for holiday homes and dwellings) The reason is that, in accordance with the new approach, all high, mid and low season prices are included in the index calculation. In the past it happened that, in individual years, the moving Easter and Whitsun holidays were not included in the index calculation. In addition, travel dates in (early) December other than during the Christmas holidays were not sufficiently represented. For the purposes of the CPI, prices were therefore collected again for the period from 25 and were included in the index calculation. However, such an adjustment of values of previous periods was not permitted in the HICP. There, the changes in the seasonal have an impact only on the 28 rates of price increase. Chart 6 shows the aggregated seasonal for the above product groups (air passenger transport, package holidays, rents for holiday homes and dwellings) for the years 25 to 27. Chart 7 illustrates the effects on the monthly CPI and HICP rates of price increase in 26 and 27. As illustrated, discrepancies occur in particular in the months of April and May. As mentioned above, this is due to differences in covering the Easter and Whitsun holidays depending on the days they fall on in the reference months. In line with the previous practice, for instance, the Easter holidays were partly included in 25 (25 to 28 March), while they were fully included in 26 (14 to 17 April) and not covered at all in 27 (6 to 9 April). In 25, Whit Monday, which fell on 16 May, was fully included in the index calculation. In 26 (5 June), it was not at all and in 27 (28 May) partly covered by the computation. In accordance with the new compilation practice, moving holidays are always included in the index calculation. The volatile component regarding the months they belong to is however preserved. An additional problem is caused by chaining the HICP results via the month of December. In line with both the previous and the new compilation practice, December includes the seasonal peak of the year, although the value is by far smaller when 9) The individual information on consumer behaviour required for the annual review of weightings pursuant to Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2454/97 of 1 december 1997 (Official Journal of Europaen Union, L 34, p. 24) did not indicate any further need for adjustment. 1) Council Regulation (EC) No 71/26 of 25 April 26 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 as regards the temporal coverage of price collection in the harmonised index of consumer prices (Official Journal of the European Union, L 122, p. 3). 6 Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) German version published in Wirtschaft und Statistik 8/28, p. 681 et seqq.

7 Chart 6 Relatives 13 Consumer Price Index: Impact of the compilation practice on the seasonal (air passenger transport, package holidays and rents for holiday homes and dwellings) Relatives New compilation practice (25 = 1) Old compilation practice (2 = 1) J A J O J A J O J A J O the new approach is applied (about 5 percentage points). As for December 27, a very large HICP value was determined in accordance with the previous practice, which was not reduced accordingly by applying the new compilation approach. Due to the weight of the product groups concerned (nearly 4 percent), an upward shift in the HICP level of just under.2 percentage points can be observed. As a rule, the CPI series are also chained through the December results. Unlike the HICP, however, the CPI in justified and exceptional cases permits deviations from the general rule in order to avoid biases. In this concrete case, the CPI series concerned were chained via the 25 annual average. Although the 25 monthly rates of price increase (compared to the corresponding months of the previous year) were affected by the methodological change in the compilation practice, these effects averaged out over the year. Chart 7.2 Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices: Impact of not considering an extended survey period 1) ) For the following groups of products: air passenger transport, package holidays and rents for holiday homes and dwellings Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) German version published in Wirtschaft und Statistik 8/28, p. 681 et seqq. 7

8 Chart 8 Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices: Impact of not incorporating an explicit type-of-shop weighting scheme Introducing an explicit type-of-shop weighting scheme In the context of rebasing the CPI to a new base year, the introduction of an explicit type-of-shop weighting scheme was the activity which had the major impact on the results 11 ). The dates of effectiveness of this measure were again January 25 for the CPI and January 28 for the HICP. It was however not possible to precisely quantify the effects of changing over from a largely implicit type-of-shop weight- Chart 9 Differences in the rates of price increase of the Consumer Price Index and the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, by methodological and conceptual causes Coverage Reweighting Survey period Type-of-shop weighting ) See Linz, S./Dexheimer, V.: Weiterentwicklung der Stichprobe der Verbraucherpreisstatistik (Further development of the sample of consumer price statistics) in WiSta 6/25, p. 582 et seqq. for the calculation method. 8 Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) German version published in Wirtschaft und Statistik 8/28, p. 681 et seqq.

9 ing scheme to an explicit type of weighting. For this reason, a certain degree of caution should be exercised in interpreting the following figures (specified as differences). Explicit weights were only used for mail order (including internet) sales. In all other cases, the number of reporting units and price series for which data were collected determined their (implicit) weighting for index calculation. As, in addition to the measures mentioned above, only minor methodological modifications were implemented with no or minimum impact on the results, the core messages can be regarded as generally applicable. Chart 8 shows that the introduction of an explicit type-ofshop weighting scheme for the CPI led to additional price dynamics which were not apparent in the HICP as the latter does without a recalculation of values of past periods. The effects on the result are clear, reaching peaks of just under.4 percentage points in several months. only one type or a small number of types of shops is/are of importance for a given group of products. Impact of the measures on the current reference year (28) Chart 9 again shows, in a summarised form, the impacts of all CPI and HICP differences on the results obtained for the % 4 Chart 1 Comparison of the 28 rates of price increase of the Consumer Price Index and the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices Consumer Price Index Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices Introducing an explicit type-of-shop weighting scheme has changed the delimitation of elementary indices in respect of the German HICP. In the past, elementary indices were compiled for slightly more than 7 groups of products for each Land. As a result, nearly 12, elementary indices, for which explicit weights were available, were specified for the German HICP. However, the same weighting factors were assumed for the above groups of products in all Länder. Thus the elementary index weights were obtained by a multiplicative combination of product weights, which were the same across the country, with Länder weights. Due to the additional introduction of type-of-shop weights, the number of elementary indices has increased to more than 3,. Although seven categories of shops are distinguished, often Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Chart 11 Coverage Differences in the rates of price increase of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices and the Consumer Price Index in 28, by causes Difference in rates of price increase Deviation due to revision Deviation due th revision (forecast) Jan. Feb. March Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) German version published in Wirtschaft und Statistik 8/28, p. 681 et seqq. 9

10 years 26 and 27. Apparently, the individual effects do not always accumulate, but often balance each other out. The methodological and conceptual differences between the HICP and the CPI have largely disappeared from reference year 28. However, coverage will continue to be different. Chart 1 compares the current results of the CPI and HICP computation. The left bars in Chart 11 illustrate the effects of different coverage for the months of January to July 28. A comparison with Chart 3 shows that the impact of smaller coverage observed in previous years has continued without interruption. When comparing Charts 3 and 11, however, it must be kept in mind that different approaches were applied in calculating the results. While in Chart 3, the consumption structures related to weighting base 2, weighting base 25 was used in Chart 1. The given differences between the HICP and CPI rates of inflation would have occurred, too, if the HICP had been revised completely in line with the CPI rules. The differences actually determined between the CPI and HICP inflation rates (see right bars in Chart 11) were clearly smaller in nearly all months. The reason is that the monthly rates of price increase relate to results of the previous year which were still based on the different HICP and CPI revision practices. In other words, if the HICP results were revised fully in harmony with the German CPI, the calculated HICP rates of price increase would now be about one to two tenths of a percentage point higher. The relevant effect will weaken in the next few months and completely disappear in December Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) German version published in Wirtschaft und Statistik 8/28, p. 681 et seqq.

11 Annex table: Harmonised Index of Vonsumer Prices (HICP) for Germany Weighting pattern, December 27 = 1 COICOP- HICP 1 ) Item HICP CPI 2 ) Weighting in Total Food and non-alcoholic beverages Alcoholic beverages, Tobacco Clothing and footwear Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels Furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house Health Transport Communication Recreation and culture Education Restaurants and hotels Miscellaneous goods and services Food and non-alcoholic beverages Food Bread and cereals Meat Fish Milk, cheese and eggs Oils and fats Fruit Vegetables Sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery Food products n.e.c Non-alcoholic beverages Coffee, tea and cocoa Mineral waters, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices Alcholic Beverages, Tobacco Alcoholic beverages Spirits Wine / 214 Beer, ready-mixed drinks with an alcohol content of less than 6% Tobacco Clothing and footwear Clothing Articles of clothing garments Other articles of clothing and clothing accessoires Cleaning, repair and hire of clothing Footwear Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels Actual rentals for housing Maintenance and repair of the dwelling Materials for the maintenance and repair of the dwelling Services for the maintenance and repair of the dwelling Water supply and miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling Water supply Refuse collection Sewerage collection Other services relating to the dwelling n.e.c Electricity, gas and other fuels Electricity Gas Liquid fuels Solid fuels Heat energy COICOP- HICP 1 ) Item HICP CPI 2 ) Weighting in 5 Furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house Furniture and furnishings, carpets and other floor coverings Furniture and furnishings Carpets and other floor coverings Repair of furniture, furnishings and floor coverings Household textiles Household appliances / 532 Major household appliances whether electric or not and small electric household appliances Repair of household appliances Glassware, tableware and household utensils Tools and equipment for house and garden Goods and services for routine household maintenance Non-durable household goods Domestic services and household services Health Medical products, appliances and equipment Pharmaceutical products / 613 Other medical products, therapeutic appliances and equipment Out-patient services / 623 Medical services,medical and paramedical services Dental services Hospital services Transport Purchase of vehicles Motor cars / Motor cycles, bicycles Operation of personal transport equipment Spare parts and accessoires for personal transport equipment Fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment Maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment Other services in respect of personal transport equipment Transport services Passenger transport by railway Passenger transport by road Passenger transport by air Passenger transport by sea and inland waterway Combined passenger transport Other purchased transport services Communication Postal services Telephone and telefax equipment Telephone and telefax services Receation and Culture Audio-visual, photographic and information processing equipment Equipment for the reception, recording and reproduction of sound and pictures Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) German version published in Wirtschaft und Statistik 8/28, p. 681 et seqq. 11

12 still Annex table: Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for Germany Weighting pattern, December 27 = 1 COICOP- HICP 1 ) Item HICP CPI 2 ) Weighting in 912 Photographic and cinematographic equipment and optical instruments Information processing equipment Recording media Repair of audio-visual, photographic and information processing equipment Other major durables for recreation and culture Other recreational items and equipment, gardens and pets Games, toys and hobbies Equipment for sport, camping and open-air recreation Gardens, plants and flowers / 935 Pets and related products including veterinary and other services for pets Recreational and cultural services Recreational and sporting services Cultural services Games of chance Newspapers, books and stationery Books Newspapers and periodicals / 954 Miscellaneous printed matter and stationery and drawing materials Package holidays Education Restaurants and Hotels Catering services Restaurants, cafés and the like Canteens Accommodation services Miscellaneous Goods and Services Personal care Hairdressing salons and personal grooming establishments / 1213 Electric appliances for personal care and other appliances, articles and products for personal care Personal effects n.e.c Jewellery, clocks and watches Other personal effects Social protection Insurance Insurance connected with the dwelling Insurance connected with health Insurance connected with transport Other insurance Financial services n.e.c Other services n.e.c ) Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) in a version adapted to HICPs. This classification corresponds largely to the German Classification of Income and Expenditure of Household (SEA). 2) In order to ensure comparability with the HICP weights, CPI (Consumer Price Index) weights of the year 25 were price-updated to December 27 prices by using item-specific price developments. 12 Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) German version published in Wirtschaft und Statistik 8/28, p. 681 et seqq.

13 Extract from the journal Wirtschaft und Statistik Published by: Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office), Wiesbaden Information on this publication Ellen Roemer Phone: + 49 () 6 11 / You may contact us at Statistical Information Service Phone: + 49 () 6 11 / Fax: + 49 () 6 11 / Abbriviations WiSta = Wirtschaft und Statistik JD = annual average D = average (for values which cannot be added up) Vj = quarter of a year Hj = half-year a. n. g. = not elsewhere classified o. a. S. = no main economic activity St = piece Mill. = million Mrd. = billion Explanation of symbols = no figures or magnitude zero = less than half of 1 in the last digit occupied, but more than zero. = numerical value unknown or not to be disclosed... = data will be available later X = cell blocked for logical reasons I or = fundamental change within a series affecting comparisons over time / = no data because the numerical value is not sufficiently reliable ( ) = limited informational value because numerical value is of limited statistical reliability Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden 213 Reproduction and distribution, also of parts, are permitted provides that the source is mentioned. Figures have in general been roundes without taking account of the totals, so that there may be an apparent slight discrepancy between the sum of the constituent items and the total as shown.