The State Statistics Committee reportedly declined IMFs technical assistance in upgrading inflation calculation tools, said Arif Veliyev, chairman, State Statistics Committee.
В"We asked IMF to estimate the current Consumer Price Index calculation methodology based on international standards, which was required in a view of passing to third method of CPI calculation. This method is applied only in the countries. But we did not ask for any assistanceВ", the Committee chairman said.
Today CPI is calculated using two methods (one deliberately educes inflation and other deliberately increases it), and third method suggests averaging these two values.
During IMF technical expert visit, State Statistics Committee was recommended to make calculations based on goods turnover, while Azeri experts use the countrys population as a basis. IMFs method is unacceptable as 50% of the countrys turnover falls for capital and other for regions; besides, due to big number of foreign organizations and enterprises in Baku turnover outpaces that in regions.
Anyway, the difference between these two methods is quite insignificant, 0.1-0.l2%.
Veliyev also stated the possibility of enlarging the list of goods CPI is calculated by. Earlier, 380 goods groups were taken into consideration, now this number is 585, and the list could be enlarged to 1,000. This calculation method is correct as during the first half-year inflation made 6% despite significant increase of prices for inflation-influencing food products. Prices for meat rose by 22-25%, for eggs by 15%, for sugar by 31% and for onion by 41%.