What is the difference between CPI and ICP?
ICP is a spatial index in which each item priced by a country must be matched to an item priced by another country. CPI, on the other hand, is a temporal index in which the same item must be priced in each index period. Furthermore, ICP’s basket of goods and services is more broad based than usually the case for CPI. In many countries prices for the CPI are only collected in capital cities, whereas ICP encourages country-wide collection of prices, in both rural and urban areas. However, the ICP aims to work within a country’s CPI framework where possible. Experts expect ICP related activities to help enhance statistical capacity in developing countries and thereby improve the CPI framework in developing countries. Most of the international organizations involved in ICP are committed to this end.
