What are some uses of Export and Import Price Indexes?
The primary use for the International Price Program’s import and export price indexes is to deflate various foreign trade and growth statistics produced by the U.S. government. Other uses include measuring inflation, as an input to fiscal and monetary policy, forecasting future prices, performing elasticity studies, deriving terms of trade indexes, analyzing exchange rates, negotiating trade contracts, and analyzing import prices by locality of origin. • Deflating trade statistics: There are three major government trade statistics that are deflated using the export and import price indexes–the monthly U.S. trade statistics, the quarterly Balance of Payments Account (BPA) numbers, and the foreign sector of the quarterly National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA). The International Price Program price indexes can, however, be used to deflate any type of import or export value statistic into real terms. • Measure inflation: A primary reason for measuring import prices is to track the im
