Consumer prices in OECD up 0.6%
June 4, 2009 - Consumer prices in the OECD area rose by 0.6 % in the year to April 2009, compared with 0.9 % in the year to March. Month-on-month, prices rose by 0.2% in April after 0.3% in March 2009. Consumer prices for energy were down by 13.3% in the year to April 2009, following a fall of 11.9% in March.
Consumer prices for food were up by 3.3% in the year to April compared with 4.5% in March. Excluding food and energy, consumer prices rose by 1.9% in the year to April 2009, compared with 1.8% in March 2009.
In the euro area, the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) remained stable at 0.6% in the year to April, compared with the year-on-year value in March. Month-on-month, the HICP in the euro area remained at 0.4% in April, unchanged since February. Excluding food and energy, the year-on-year rise in the HICP in the euro area amounted to 1.8% in April, compared with 1.6% in March.
In the United States, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell 0.7% over the year to April 2009.
In Japan, consumer prices fell 0.1% year-on-year in April, compared with a decline of 0.3% in the year to March.
Over the year to April, consumer prices rose by 2.3% in the United Kingdom, 1.2% in Italy, 0.7 % in Germany, 0.4% in Canada and 0.1% in France.
Methodological notes
Four variables are available for all OECD countries and can be aggregated into zone areas: namely CPI-All items; CPI-Food excluding restaurant meals (COICOP 01); CPI-Energy [Electricity, gas and other fuel (COICOP 04.5) plus Fuel and lubricants for personal transport equipment (COICOP 07.2.2)]; CPI-All items less Food less Energy (food and energy as defined above).
Results reflect national CPIs. In most instances, CPIs are compiled in accordance with international statistical guidelines and recommendations. However, national practices may differ in the coverage and treatment of certain items and in the use of index number formulas. In particular, country methodologies for the treatment of owner-occupied housing in the CPI vary significantly and carry large weights in the index. The European Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) exclude owner-occupied housing as do national CPIs for Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. HICPs are therefore shown for comparison under the all items column in the first table. For the United Kingdom the national CPI is the same as the HICP.
For the United Kingdom, the Retail Price Index is shown as a memorandum item. It differs in coverage and methodology from the national CPI/HICP. In particular, the RPI includes an estimate of costs of owner-occupied housing and is based on an index number formula that leads to average inflation rates that are approximately 0.5 percentage points per annum higher relative to the formula in the CPI/HICP. Further information is available on the ONS website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/.
CPI data for zones, based on national indices are annual chain-linked Laspeyres indices. The weights for each individual link are based on the previous year’s households private final consumption expenditure using National Accounts data based on the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA 93). The euro area CPI refers to the HICP published by Eurostat and covers the thirteen euro area countries for the entire period of the time series.
Provisional data are based on press releases by National Statistical Offices which are sometimes rounded to one-digit decimals. Final data transmitted to OECD is more complete and this may lead to differences.
The OECD-Total covers the 30 OECD Member countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.
The G7 area covers Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and United States. The euro area covers the following 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus , Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Spain.
