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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Price monitoring in Serbia according to European methodology

Belgrade, 31 May 2007

Director of the Serbian Statistical Office Dragan Vukmirovic said today that from January this year the Statistical Office began to monitor the consumer price index, which will replace the retail price and cost of living indexes during the upcoming years for calculating inflation.

Dragan Vukmirovic at today's press conference

Author: Tanjug

At a presentation of the new methodology held in the Tanjug international press centre, Vukmirovic explained that by 2008 the consumer price index will be completely harmonised with European methodology, which will make international comparison of data possible.

He said that the project of harmonising is being implemented in cooperation with the European system EUROSTAT, and it is being conducted by the Italian statistical institute ISTAT.

He said that the aim of this new methodology is accessibility in using data, but the goal is not just to provide numerical data, rather to offer an explanation for calculation, in order to make data reliable.

Representative of ISTAT Isabelle de Purbe said that monitoring consumer prices is an important step for Serbia in reaching European standards in statistics which allows international comparison, which is the goal of the project being financed by the EU.

Head of the Sector for Price Statistics at the Serbian Statistical Office Tatjana Stanojevic-Miladinovic stressed that monitoring the price index is very important because governments of various countries use it to plan economic policies.

She added that social benefits are also calculated on the basis of the price index, and companies use it to adapt to changes in the market.

Head of the Sector for Retail Prices Vojislava Balaban-Bozic said that the consumer price index is a measure for average changes in the prices of the fixed basket of goods and services used by households.

The retail price index is calculated with the national classification of goods and services, while the consumer price index is calculated with the European classification. The prices are monitored in 15 cities of Serbia for 550 most important products, house rents, finances and telecommunication services, finances and health services are also included. The product and services basket for calculating the consumer price index is adjusted once annually, and the product must remain the same in every respect, explained Balaban-Bozic.

According to Balaban-Bozic, if a product, changes colour or its packaging, it must be treated as a completely new one and its price will not be comparable with the older one.