Consumer Price Index
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is compiled by the National Statistical Service of Greece (ELSTAT) and is used for the measurement of the changes of the general level of prices of the goods and services that make up the “household basket”.
In the past, the revisions of the CPI were based on the Household Budget Surveys (HBS) which were conducted every five years and were used in order to derive the CPI weights. As of 2008 the HBS have been carried out on an annual basis, a fact that allows for the annual updating of the CPI weights.
Up to December 2013 the CPI had been compiled as a fixed-base index. As of January 2014, the CPI has been compiled as a chain index which for the 12 months in each year uses as base the December of the previous year. The CPI is available on a monthly basis since 1959 with 2020 being the reference year.
Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices
The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) is also compiled by ELSTAT together with the CPI, within the framework of the basic Council Regulation EC 2494/95 and of other 11 Regulations which lay down particular implementing measures governing the compilation of HICPs. The HICP, together with the respective indices of the member-states of the Monetary Union, is used in the computations of the Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices (MUICP) for the measurement of inflation in the eurozone for the purposes of monetary policy, as the treaty for the Economic and Monetary Union establishes. The HICP is available since 1995 with (2015=100) as the common base year.