Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT)

Population, Employment and Cost of Living Statistics Division (B4)

Retail Price Indices Section (B44)

46 Pireos & Eponiton str.

185.10 Piraeus

Greece

The harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) is a consumer price index (CPI) that is calculated according to a harmonised approach. It measures the change over time of the prices of consumer goods and services acquired by households (inflation).

Due to the common methodology, the HICPs of the countries and European aggregates can be directly compared.

European classification of individual consumption according to purpose (ECOICOP)

The HICP covers the final monetary consumption expenditure of the household sector.

The main statistical variables are price indices.

The basic unit of statistical observation are prices for consumer products.

3.6.1. Statistical target population

The target statistical universe is the 'household final monetary consumption expenditure' (HFMCE) on the economic territory of the country by both resident and non-resident households. The household sector to which the definition refers, includes all individuals or groups of individuals irrespective of, in particular, the type of area in which they live, their position in the income distribution and their nationality or residence status. These definitions follow the national accounts concepts in the European System of Accounts.

3.6.2. Coverage error population

There is no population coverage error.

3.7.1. Geographical coverage

The HICP refers to the economic territory of a country as referred to in paragraph 2.05 of Annex A to ESA 2010, with the exception that the extraterritorial enclaves situated within the boundaries of a Member State or a country are included and the territorial enclaves situated in the rest of the world are excluded.

3.7.2. Coverage error regions

No part of the country is excluded from the index.

3.8.1. Start of time series

The HICP series started in January 1997.

3.8.2. Start of time series - national specifics

See the HICP database

From January 1996 onwards, the time series data of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, with base year 2015 = 100, are available on a monthly basis.

2015=100

The following units are used:

• Index point
• Percentage change on the same period of the previous year (rates);
• Percentage change on the previous period (rates);
• Percentage share of the total (weights).

HICP is a monthly statistics.

Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICPs) are harmonised inflation figures required under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Regulation (EU) 2016/792 of the European Parliament and the Council of 11 May 2016 (OJ L 135) sets the legal basis for establishing a harmonised methodology for the compilation of the HICP and the HICP-CT.

This regulation is implemented by Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/1148 of 31 July 2020.

Further documentation, can be found in Eurostat’s website - HICP dedicated section, namely recommendations on specific topics, under the methodology page, and guidelines, under the quality page.

None.

The issues concerning the observance of statistical confidentiality by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) are arranged by articles 7, 8 and 9 of the Law 3832/2010 as in force, by Articles 8, 10 and 11(2) of the Regulation on Statistical Obligations of the agencies of the Hellenic Statistical System and by Articles 10 and 15 of the Regulation on the Operation and Administration of ELSTAT.

More precisely:

ELSTAT disseminates the statistics in compliance with the statistical principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice and in particular with the principle of statistical confidentiality (see web page: Statistical confidentiality - ELSTAT (statistics.gr)).

Protection of personal data

ELSTAT abides by the commitments and obligations arising from the applicable EU and national legislation on the protection of the individual from the processing of personal data and the relevant decisions, guidelines and regulatory acts of the Hellenic Data Protection Authority.

Pursuant to the Regulation on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data [Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 (General Data Protection Regulation - GDPR)], ELSTAT implements the appropriate technical and organisational measures for ensuring adequate level of security against risks for the personal data it collects and has access to, in the context of carrying out its tasks, in order to meet the requirements of this Regulation and to protect these personal data from any unauthorised access or illegal processing.

The personal data collected by ELSTAT are used exclusively for purposes related to the conduct of surveys and the production of relevant statistics. Only ELSTAT has access to the data. The controller is the person appointed by law pursuant to the relevant provisions concerning the Legal Entities of Public Law and the Independent Authorities. The data are stored in the databases of ELSTAT for as long as required by the relevant legislation.

Legal basis of the processing: Article 6, para 1(c) and 1(d) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (see web page: General Information on the processing of your data by ELSTAT (statistics.gr)).

ELSTAT protects and does not disseminate data it has obtained or it has access to, which enable the direct or indirect identification of the statistical units that have provided them by the disclosure of individual information directly received for statistical purposes or indirectly supplied from administrative or other sources. ELSTAT takes all appropriate preventive measures so as to render impossible the identification of individual statistical units by technical or other means that might reasonably be used by a third party. Statistical data that could potentially enable the identification of the statistical unit are disseminated by ELSTAT if and only if:

a) these data have been treated, as it is specifically set out in the Regulation on Statistical Obligations of the Agencies of the Hellenic Statistical System (ELSS), in such a way that their dissemination does not prejudice statistical confidentiality or
b) the statistical unit has given its consent, without any reservations, for the disclosure of data.

The confidential data that are transmitted by ELSS agencies to ELSTAT are used exclusively for statistical purposes and the only persons who have the right to have access to these data are the personnel engaged in this task and appointed by an act of the President of ELSTAT.

ELSTAT may grant researchers conducting statistical analyses for scientific purposes access to data that enable the indirect identification of the statistical units concerned. The access is granted provided the following conditions are satisfied:

a) an appropriate request together with a detailed research proposal in conformity with current scientific standards have been submitted;
b) the research proposal indicates in sufficient detail the set of data to be accessed, the methods of analysing them, and the time needed for the research;
c) a contract specifying the conditions for access, the obligations of the researchers, the measures for respecting the confidentiality of statistical data and the sanctions in case of breach of these obligations has been signed by the individual researcher, by his/her institution, or by the organization commissioning the research, as the case may be, and by ELSTAT.

Issues referring to the observance of statistical confidentiality are examined by the Statistical Confidentiality Committee (SCC) operating in ELSTAT.

The responsibilities of this Committee are to make recommendations to the President of ELSTAT on:

• the level of detail at which statistical data can be disseminated, so as the identification, either directly or indirectly, of the surveyed statistical unit is not possible;
• the anonymisation criteria for the microdata provided to users;
• the granting to researchers access to confidential data for scientific purposes.

The staff of ELSTAT, under any employment status, as well as the temporary survey workers who are employed for the collection of statistical data in statistical surveys conducted by ELSTAT, who acquire access by any means to confidential data, are bound by the principle of confidentiality and must use these data exclusively for the statistical purposes of ELSTAT. After the termination of their term of office, they are not allowed to use these data for any purpose. Violation of data confidentiality and/or statistical confidentiality by any civil servant or employee of ELSTAT constitutes the disciplinary offence of violation of duty and may be punished with the penalty of final dismissal.

ELSTAT, by its decision, may impose a penalty amounting from ten thousand (10,000) up to two hundred thousand (200,000) Euros to anyone who violates the confidentiality of data and/or statistical confidentiality. The penalty is always imposed after the hearing of the defence of the person liable for the breach, depending on the gravity and the repercussions of the violation. Any relapse constitutes an aggravating factor for the assessment of the administrative sanction.

Pursuant to the Regulation on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data [Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 27 April 2016 (General Data Protection Regulation - GDPR)], ELSTAT implements the appropriate technical and organisational measures for ensuring adequate level of security against risks for the personal data it collects and has access to, in the context of carrying out its tasks, in order to meet the requirements of this Regulation and to protect these personal data from any unauthorised access or illegal processing. 

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see point 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

The HICP is released according to Eurostat’s Release calendar.

The calendar is publically available and published at the end of the year for the full following year.

The Press Releases calendar is disseminated to the media and it is available to users for free. The release calendar is also posted on the website of ELSTAT 'Press Releases'/ 'Release calendar' (Greek-English).

In compliance with Community legislation and the European Statistics Code of Practice, ELSTAT disseminates national statistical data on its website, fully observing professional independence and with a view to ensuring the simultaneous, equal and timely access of all users to statistical data.

Data are released simultaneously to all interest parties and to all users through the press release on the HICP, which is released on the website of ELSTAT (www.statistics.gr) according to the release calendar and it can also be transmitted to users by e-mail.

Neither users nor any government bodies have access to data before their official release.

Monthly

The HICP data are disseminated on a monthly basis, separately but at the same time as the CPI Press Release, through a scheduled press release:

• on the website of ELSTAT in Greek and in English,
• via to the media and to other users, free of charge.

The indices are rounded up to two decimals figures and percentage changes up to one decimal figure, when disseminated. The Flash estimate is transmitted to Eurostat, but it is not published at national level. Furthermore, at the date of the press release publication, on the website of ELSTAT, Excel files are published with the following data and results:

• Comparison between HICP and CPI,
• Comparisons of the overall Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices,
• Monthly evolution of the overall Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices,
• Monthly sub-indices of HICP groups, sub-groups.

Moreover, data of HICP are included in specific publications, such as 'Greece in figures' and 'The Greek Economy'.

The HICP and HICP-CT data are published on a monthly basis through a scheduled press release, during the first 10 days after the end of each reference month (excluding the January Index, which is released on February 20). Every month, on a specific date and at 12:00, a press release is announced which presents the currently compiled indices and their changes in the Greek and English. This press release is disseminated to the media and to other users, free of charge, through e-mail and is also available on the website of ELSTAT.

The HICP is included in the following publications:

• 'Greece in figures' where annual average indices are published at the level of the general index and at the level of major groups.
• 'The Greek Economy' where monthly and annual index data and rate changes are published for the last four years at the level of the general index.

Eurostat HICP Database

Micro-data are made available to users after submitting a relevant request to the:

Statistical Information and Publications Division

46, Pireos & Eponiton Str, PO Box 80847

18510 Piraeus

Tel: (+30) 213 135 2022

e-mail: data.dissem@statistics.gr

For confidentiality reasons, access to micro-data is granted to users only under strict conditions and by always adhering to the relevant procedure (see web page: Access to confidential data for scientific purposes - ELSTAT (statistics.gr).

Users can be given data or other statistical analysis, through e-mail, upon request, after submitting an application to the Population Employment and Cost of Living Statistics Division-Retail Price Indices Section (B44) or to the Statistical Data Dissemination Section (A54).

The contact e-mail addresses are:

cpi@statistics.gr, a.kourtaki@statistics.gr, data.dissem@statistics.gr

data.supply@statistics.gr, data.source@statistics.gr

Users can have access to ELSTAT publications, even for previous years, where they can find data on the HICP, which are posted on the Digital Library EL.STAT. (statistics.gr)

The results of the Harmonised Consumer Price Index are posted on the web page Statistics - ELSTAT.

Data are sent to Eurostat and published in Eurostat online database. 

Users can submit their requests via the web page Provision of statistical data - ELSTAT (statistics.gr).

The HICP Methodological Manual provides the reference methodology for the production of HICP.

10.6.1. Documentation on methodology - national specifics

A methodological publication  containing detailed information on the sources and the related practices used for the compilation of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices is available in the Greek and English on the website of ELSTAT: http://www.statistics.gr/en/HICP publication

An information note concerning the updating works for the index is also available at:

http://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/information note

http://www.statistics.gr/en/information note 2015

http://www.statistics.gr/en/information note 2016

http://www.statistics.gr/en/information note 2019

Eurostat's regular compliance monitoring visits and related documentation are available on Eurostat's web page: Quality - Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) (europa.eu)

A concise Quality Report is available on ESTAT's web page: Statistics - ELSTAT

ELSTAT develops, produces and disseminates statistics (HICP included) according to the European Statistics Code of Practice. Currently, there is no available certificate confirming the quality of HICP compilation.

11.1.1. Quality management - Compliance Monitoring

Compliance Monitoring

11.1.2. Quality assurance - national specifics

Quality checks and validation of data are carried out through the whole process of the compilation of the index, from the stage of data collection to the final calculation of the index.

• Quality Policy and Quality Manual of ELSTAT are followed (see in web page: Policies - ELSTAT (statistics.gr)).

• Each product selected to be monitored is fully and accurately defined on the basis of the characteristics which define it (range, weight, packaging, other quality attributes).
• If certain items or product varieties cease to be representative or alter their determination characteristics, then new items or varieties replace the older ones.
• The methods of quality adjustment followed are mainly three:

  a) The overlap method, used in cases where the old (to be replaced) product and new product have common price collection period,

  b) The bridged overlap method (connection with increase or decrease on index) and,

  c) Quantity adjustment, when the quantity of an item changes while its price remains the same.

• Well-trained and experienced staff is utilised for all the stages of the compilation of the index, that is, for data collection (including communication with the enterprises), initial checks, data entry and final checks, which are conducted after the calculation of the index. This way, the personnel have a comprehensive and longitudinal image of the enterprises under their responsibilities.
• Data are validated either before or after data entry by means of logical checks. During data processing data are checked in order to identify and correct any errors. When an error is identified, data are further investigated, in cooperation with the enterprises in order to confirm that it is an error or it is just an unusual price. At the same time, data are checked for completeness, accuracy and consistency of the correlating variables.
• The indices are calculated by means of specialised software, through computation routines, thus eliminating any errors to the final results. Nevertheless, even during this stage, consistency checks are carried out to the final results, mainly by means of comparing the percentage changes of the sub-indices and their impact on the overall index.

11.2.1. Compliance monitoring - last report and main results

The last available compliance or follow-up report can be found in Eurostat's web page Quality - Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP).

11.2.2. Quality assessment - national specifics

The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices is considered as a highly reliable index. It is compiled since 1995 in Greece, thus the staff has acquired a lot of experience and expertise in its compilation. The concepts, definitions and methodology of the HICP follow European and international standards and guidelines.

The characteristic of the HICPs is that they must be produced according to several technical measures, as these are defined in the EU Regulations. The main technical measures are the following:

• Use of a common classification of items (ECOICOP/HICP).
• Selection of the computation formula for the individual indices.
• Geographic and population coverage of the whole country.
• Renewal of weights of items annually.
• Item coverage and production of specific sub-indices.
• Minimum standards for price collection and sampling.
• Adjustments due to quality differences of items.
• Common treatment of tariffs of Public Utility Services.
• Common reference year (2015=100) and retrospective compilation of indices from January 1996 onwards.

In addition to being a general measure of inflation, the HICP is also used in the areas of:

• wages, social benefit and contract indexation;
• economic forecasting and analysis;
• measuring specific price trends;
• accounting purposes and deflating other series;
• inflation targeting by central banks;
• cross-country economic comparisons.

The euro area (evolving composition) index is used by the European Central Bank (ECB) as the main indicator for monetary policy management. The ECB and the European Commission's Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) use the HICP for assessing price stability and price convergence required for entry into European Monetary Union.

Other users include: National Central Banks, financial institutions, economic analysts, the media and the public at large.

12.1.1. User Needs - national specifics

The main domestic users of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices are the Government, Public Entities, the Central Bank of Greece, other banks, enterprises, universities, the Centre of Planning and Economic Research (KEPE), the Foundation of Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE), while at international level Eurostat, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD), the United Nations (UN), the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), etc.

Users’ needs are monitored on a regular basis by the Retail Price Indices Section (B44) and the Statistical Data Dissemination Section (A54) of the Statistical Information and Publications Division, with the aim of meeting their requests. Generally, good cooperation has been established with users and the response to requests is as immediate as possible, with positive comments obtained from users.

At the same time, ELSTAT conducts a user satisfaction survey every six months, which results are published in the Library’s Newsletter, a bilingual publication issued by the Library and Website Content Management Section and the Statistical Data Dissemination Section, using a user questionnaire. This publication presents half-yearly data on the number of users, in combination with some other variables, such as the degree of coverage of requests, the type of the requested statistics and the dissemination of statistical information. These characteristics are tabulated into absolute values and in percentages.

ELSTAT, in an effort to explore the basic characteristics of the users of statistical information and record their needs, collects on a daily basis the User Questionnaire in order to collect important information for its products and services and thus contributing to their improvement. These statistical data are presented on an annual basis.

Finally, ELSTAT has been conducting since 2010, annually, a Users Conference. Users Conferences help ELSTAT to draw useful conclusions on the areas where statistical output and services can be improved and to be more responsive to the evolving needs of users. These conclusions are included in the annual and medium term statistical work programmes of ELSTAT.

The results of User Satisfaction Survey are presented at the following web page on the portal ELSTAT: User satisfaction survey.

The compilation of the HICP and the information provided are in line with the relevant EU Regulations (Eurostat). All indices and item weights are available since January 1996.

The accuracy of HICP is generally considered to be high. The accuracy of source data is monitored by assessing the methodological soundness of weight and price sources and the adherence to the methodological recommendations. The National Accounts data and Household Budget Survey (HBS) are the main source for weights every year. Local price collection (visits to local retailers and service providers) and central price collection (post, telephone, e-mail and the internet) are the data sources for prices. The items selected for pricing and the method selected for price collection reflect both consumer choice and behaviour. The type of survey and the price collection methods ensure sufficient coverage and timeliness.

The sampling errors of the indices are not calculated, because when selecting the sample of the products of the household basket and the outlets that are provided, the method of guided sampling is applied.

The HICP non-sampling errors are not quantified. ELSTAT tries to reduce non-sampling errors through continuous methodological improvements and survey process improvements.

The full set of HICPs is published each month according to Eurostat’s Release calendar, usually between 15 and 18 days after the end of the reference month.

Each year, the January release is published at the end of February to allow for the annual update of the weights, both of individual product groups and the relative country weights of Members States in the country group aggregates.

The euro area flash estimate is published on the last working day of the reference month or shortly after that.

Since the March 1997, launch of the HICP release, the HICP for the country groups aggregates has always been published on the dates announced in Eurostat’s Release calendar.

HICPs across Member States aim to be comparable. Any differences at all levels of detail should only reflect differences in price changes or expenditure patterns.

To this end, concepts and methods have been harmonised by means of legislation. HICPs that deviate from these concepts and methods are deemed comparable if they result in an index that is estimated to differ systematically by less than or equal to 0.1 percentage points on average over one year against the previous year (Article 4 of Council and Parliament Regulation (EU) 2016/792).

The HICP time series data are fully comparable over time.  The HICP time series are available from 1996.

Checks and comparisons are always carried out on the basis of the national Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The national CPI and the Greek HICP present several similarities but also some differences with the following being the most important.

• The HICP reference year is 2015=100 and CPI 2020=100
• The HICP covers all consumption expenditure, which takes place on the economic territory of Greece independently of the consumer (permanent and non permanent residents), while the national CPI covers only the consumption expenditure of private resident households which take place on the economic territory of the country and abroad.
• The HICP weights of the items are calculated based on data of the National Accounts and HBS data while the is CPI is calculated using only HBS data.

The HICPs are internally coherent. Higher level aggregations are derived from detailed indices according to well-defined procedures.

Not available

The HICP series, including back data, is revisable under the terms set in Articles 17-20 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1148.

17.1.1. Data revision - policy - national specifics

The Index follows ELSTAT’s revisions policy (see on web page: Policies - ELSTAT (statistics.gr)).

The HICP has not been revised in the past years.

18.1.1. Weights

The expenditures used for the calculation of the weights of items taken into account for the computation of HICP include the expenditures of private households, the expenditures of foreign visitors and the expenditures of individuals living in institutions, while the expenditures of residents whilst in a foreign country are excluded. The item weights are price updated, every January to the previous December prices. The sources of the expenditure data used for the calculation of the weights of HICP items are National Accounts and the Household Budget Survey (HBS).

The renewal of weights, which is necessary to ensure their reliability, is governed by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1148.

The following table presents the weights of items of the Greek HICP expressed in per mille (‰) , as these apply, from January 2023, for the 12 main groups of items (two-digit level of ECOICOP/HICP).

The COVID-19 pandemic and the restriction measures that were put into place had impact on the years 2020-2022. For the year 2022, the estimated expenditures (by household) were derived from National Accounts data (3-digit COICOP level), taking into account the provisional data for the first 3 quarters of 2022 and the estimation of expenditure of the 4^th quarter of 2022, considering that the 4^th quarter of 2022 (Q4) for each of the above mentioned 47 COICOP categories, is estimated by applying on the value of the 3^rd quarter of 2022, the value index between consumption Q4 of 2021 and Q3 of 2021.

In the lower COICOP levels 4 and 5, the abovementioned expenditures were shared proportionally using the respective expenditure shares of HBS data for year 2021 in most of cases. Regarding the COICOP level 045, 072 and 073, the expenditures were shared in the lower levels using data from other sources as retail trade data, passenger traffic data etc.

18.1.1.1. Compilation at elementary aggregate level

The geometric mean is used for the elementary indices in pricing cities level as no weighting information regarding the outlets/sources level is available and for the calculation of elementary aggregate indices for the whole country, population weights are used for weighting the individual indices of price collection cities.

For the calculation of population weights, the new population data as derived from the 2011 population census and the results of the 2021 Household Budget Survey (HBS) were taken into account.

For the weighting of the sub-indices of some items of the Index (e.g. urban transports), where accurate data on the local consumption value are available, these data are used instead of the above-mentioned population weights.

18.1.1.2. Compilation of sub-index weights

At 4-digit level, the data are derived from the National Accounts. At the 5-digit level, data are derived from the Household Budget Survey (HBS). The weight calculation has as follows:

A) The National Accounts expenditure is taken at the 4-digit code level, after deducting the following expenditures:

i) Drugs,
ii) Deductible rents,
iii) Hot water, steam and ice,
iv) Gambling,
v) Prostitution,
vi) FISIM.

B) The costs are reduced to 1,000.
C) Expenditures are updated on the base of last year’s December.
D) The cost of 4-digit codes is allocated proportionally to the 5-digit level, using the data of the Household Budget Survey (HBS).

18.1.1.3. Compilation of sub-index weights

At the 4-digit and 5-digit levels of the index, the reference year of weighting is 't-2'.

18.1.1.4. Weights – plausibility checking

The HICP weights of the items are calculated based on data of the National Accounts and HBS data and they are already validated by the relevant units. In case of significant yearly change, the data are explained and verified.

18.1.1.5. Price updating

In all ECOICOP levels, the expenditures are updated to December t-1, using the annual average indices for t-2 and the indices of December t-1. The price-updating to December t-1 was applied in all ECOICOP levels, including the elementary level.

18.1.1.6. Compilation of total household final monetary consumption expenditure

The results of the Quarterly National Accounts serve as a source of information for the estimation of the HFMCE, from which the following data are derived:

 a) Data on Domestic Household Consumption of year 2021 by quarter and of the first 3 quarters of year 2022. They are available in the analysis of 47 expenditure categories according to the 3-digit code of COICOP, which correspond to the analysis of Level 3 of the 'Individual Consumption Expenditure by Households' in the PPP Questionnaire.

 b) Data on Consumption expenditure of resident households abroad of years 2021 by quarter and of the first 3 quarters of year 2022, available at aggregate level as single figure.

 c) Data on Consumption expenditure of non-resident households in the economic territory of year 2021 by quarter and of the first 3 quarters of year 2022, available at aggregate level as single figure.

Regarding the inclusion of the 4th quarter:

 i) The Household Consumption of the 4th quarter of 2022 (Q4) for each of the above mentioned 47 COICOP categories, is estimated by applying on the value of the 4th quarter of 2021, the value index between consumption Q2-Q3 (quarters average) of 2022 and Q2-Q3 of 2021 (quarters average). According to the latest published figures of Household Consumption the level of figures of Q2 -Q3 2022 exceeds those of Q2-Q3 2021.  (https://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SEL84/-).

 ii) The same method is applied for the estimation of the 4th quarter concerning the Consumption of resident and non-resident households respectively items b & c of the previous questions. 

Then, the estimation process of HFMCE involves the following steps:

1^st step: Estimation of the annual value of the Household Consumption of 2022 by adding the estimate of Q4 to the value of Q1-Q3 in the analysis of the 47 COICOP categories.

2^nd step: Estimation of the annual values of the consumption of resident and non-resident households of 2022 by adding the estimate of Q4 to the value of Q1-Q3

3^rd step: The above calculated COICOP categories are further analysed to lower levels, that are Classes (Level 4) and Basic Headings (level 5) of the PPP table, using the shares of consumption derived from the corresponding figures of year 2021. In addition, they are summed up to the higher aggregates, so as the Domestic Individual Consumption Expenditure (Level 1) is derived.

4^th step: Estimation of the Net Purchases Abroad:

   Net purchases abroad

= Consumption expenditure of resident households abroad

-  Consumption expenditure of non-resident households in the economic territory

 5^th step:  Estimation of the National Individual Consumption Expenditure.

 It results by applying the following formula:

    National Individual Consumption Expenditure

= Domestic Individual Consumption Expenditure

+ Net purchases abroad

18.1.2. Prices

The sample of surveyed goods and services is updated annually, using the results of the latest available Household Budget Survey and other market research. The chain linking methodology allows the change of items of the household basket, on an annual basis, in order to ensure the representativeness of items which are to be included in the calculation of groups and sub-groups of the index.

The number of consumer goods and services of the HICP comes to 805 and they are further broken down into a greater number of varieties.

All the items, for which prices are collected, are defined by their specification, namely the particular characteristics which determine the quality, appearance and general commercial identity of the goods (such as brand, variety, weight, packaging, etc.) in order to avoid any price changes, which are due to differences in the specification. The detailed specification of an item is not uniform throughout the country and may differ not only from one price collection city to another, but also from one store of the city to another, since it is determined on the basis of the economic conditions and the local consumer habits.

Sample size (2023) 

18.1.2.1. Data Source - overview  

The collection of prices for almost all the items of HICP is carried out by visits of ELSTAT employees to the price collection outlets of a specific period of the month (month/week). Prices are also collected by e-mail (private school fees, car insurance premiums and bicycles, etc.) as well as via the Internet (energy prices, car and bicycle toll rates, mobile telephony prices, ship and plane ticket prices, etc.).

18.1.2.2. Scanner data - general information

Scanner data are currently not used for price collection.

18.1.2.3. Web scraping - general information

Bulk web scraping is not used.

18.1.3. Sampling

18.1.3.1. Sampling design: locations for survey

Prices are collected in 27 cities; the markets of these cities are considered to be representative centres of wider geographic areas. The sample of geographical regions covered by the HICP has been designed in order to cover representatively all the Regions (NUTS 2) of the country in terms of price collection.

18.1.3.2. Sampling design: outlets

The price collection outlets are retail stores and services enterprises, which sell particular species and varieties of species that are consumed by the majority of households in the area.

The selected outlets are representative of the branches of stores in the 27 selected price collection cities where the households make their purchases.

The representativeness criteria for the selection of the outlets are the volume of sales, their geographic location and the availability of items, for which prices are collected, on a continuous basis. The biggest urban centres of Greece, Greater Athens area and Thessaloniki, are divided into zones depending on the income of their inhabitants. Therefore, the price collection outlets in these cities are selected on the basis of the criterion according to which the consumers from all income levels are represented.

The sample of price collection sources does not include shops, mainly small, with low-quality products, as well as some luxury stores with products at extremely high prices. Furthermore, prices are not collected for items sold on street-carts but on the contrary, price collection includes open-air markets but only for fresh fruit and vegetables.

18.1.3.3. Sampling design: newly significant goods and services

Newly significant goods and services are identified based on market information and on feedback by price collectors. The chain linking method allows the annual update of goods and services. The latest large-scale update of goods and services was made in 2015 when 71 new products were introduced and 57 were deleted as unrepresentative. In the following years, there have been minor changes and at the latest update took place in January 2023, when 7 items were introduced and 2 items were deleted. It is noted that the HICP basket contains a remarkably large number of products, including even the HICP categories with low expenditure.

Price data is collected every month.

18.3.1. Price collection surveys

Τhe prices for almost all the items of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices are collected by means of an established procedure, according to which experienced price collectors pay visits to the price collection outlets during a specific period of the month (monthly price collection items) or on a specific day of the week (weekly price collection items) and record the prices on a specially designed price collection form. For specific items (tuition fees for private schools, insurance premiums for motor vehicles, and motorcycles, etc) the prices are collected by specially designed questionnaires submitted by the surveyed companies/outlets via fax or e-mail. Additionally, the prices of specific items are monitored via internet.

The price collectors are trained by seminars held at the central office and at the regional offices in order to be provided with the necessary knowledge on the rules of price collection and on more specific issues, such as the qualitative and quantitative replacement of items. In addition, it is pointed out to them that it is significant to renew the existing basket with new items and that their suggestions are welcome.

18.3.2. Timing of price collection

The survey is conducted approximately in the first 15 working days of each month.

Data are validated through regular and logical checks. During data processing, any errors are identified and are fully corrected. Special emphasis is placed on the errors that may have major impact on the results. After identifying the errors, they are further checked and cross-checked in cooperation with the enterprises in order to confirm that it is an error or it is just about an unusual price. At the same time, data are checked for completeness, accuracy and consistency of the correlating variables. Data validation is carried out in the overall aggregation files.

The data are compared with data from previous months and with data of the corresponding month of previous years and in case of large deviations, a more thorough investigation is necessary.

18.4.1. Data validation - price data

During data processing, any errors are identified and are dully corrected.  

18.5.1. Elementary price index formulae

The HICP is a Laspeyres-type index. Τhe product aggregate index is calculated by weighting the geometric mean indices of the cities with the corresponding population coefficients. The number of decimal places of the collected prices is usually equal to 2. The weights have infinite decimals. The calculations of the HICP indices are not rounded and all the calculations are done with infinite decimal places. The indices are published with 2 decimal places and the monthly, annual and average annual changes are published with 1 decimal place.

18.5.2. Aggregation of different data sources

The aggregation method is as follow:

• At the level of the city, the index of an item is calculated as the geometric mean of the indices of the price collected products in the city.
• At the level of the item, the indices are calculated as weighted arithmetic mean of the indices of the cities where price collection is carried out.
• The indices at the levels higher than 5-digit are calculated as weighted arithmetic mean of the indices of the immediately lower level.

18.5.3. Chaining, linking and splicing methods

The compilation of HICP follows the chain linking method, having as base the December of the previous year.

Following this process, each index is converted to an index with a reference year 2015 = 100.

18.5.4. Quality adjustment – Detailed information

The methods of quality adjustment which are followed are mainly four:

a) the overlap method used in cases where the old (to be replaced) product and the new product have common price collection period,

b) the bridged overlap method, with connection with increase or decrease in an index,

c) quantity adjustment, when the quantity of an item changes while its price remains the same and

d) direct comparison, when the quality of the two items is considered as the same.

Therefore, when a good is sold in a higher or lower quantity than usual, with the same price, then the value is adjusted on the basis of the offered quantity (quantitative adjustment).

18.5.5. Seasonal items

a. Fresh fruit and vegetables

The seasonality of fresh fruit and vegetables is addressed by using the method of 'Class-confined seasonal weights' which fully meets the requirements of the latest Council Regulation No 330/2009 (revised and repealed by Regulation (EU) 2016/792).

According to the method, when some products are out of season then they remain out of the 'basket' with no weighting factors.

b. Clothing and footwear

The same class-confined seasonal weights method is applied to address the seasonality of clothing and footwear.

The items of clothing and footwear of the HICP are divided in the following groups:

1. Clothing and footwear items available only in winter (winter items)
2. Clothing and footwear items available only in summer (summer items)
3. Clothing and footwear items available during all of the year (all-seasons items)

The items of the group (1) and (2) are considered seasonal items.

Prices for the aforementioned seasonal items are collected during:

• October-April: winter items
• May-September: summer items

Not applicable.

None.