The exercises which fall within the remit of the unit include:
- The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP)
- The Retail Price Index (RPI)
- The Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) price statistics
- The House Price Index
- The Owner-Occupied Housing Index
The main responsibility of the Unit is the compilation of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) and the Retail Price Index (RPI). Both indicators are compiled and published monthly, with the former also transmitted to the European Commission. Moreover, the unit is also responsible for compiling all Purchasing Power Parities data necessary for the deflators, in order to be able to produce the GDP at Purchasing Power Standards.
An area which gained notable momentum since the great recession is house price statistics. The House Price index (HPI) and the Owner-Occupied Housing Index (OOHI) are compiled on a quarterly basis. The HPI reflects changes in the transaction prices of dwellings purchased by households whereas the OOHI measures the changes in the transaction prices of dwellings new to the household sector and other goods and services that households acquire in their role as owner-occupiers after excluding the price of land from the equation.