Philippines - International Comparison Program 2005

v1.1: Edited data, first version, for internal use only by National Statistics Office and Asian Development Bank, the regional executing agency for the International Comparison Program (ICP) for Asia and the Pacific.

2007-07

The 2005 International Comparison Program (ICP) is a worldwide project which will enable economists to compare the average wealth of all the 150 participating countries. The purpose of the ICP is to compare internationally national account aggregates expressed in national currencies by converting them to a standard currency such as the US dollar at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rates instead of exchange rates. By using PPP as conversion factors, the resulting comparisons of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) volumes enable us to measure the relative social and economic well-being of countries, monitor the incidence of poverty and progress made towards the Millennium Development Goals and target programs effectively, and assist international markets by identifying the relative productivity and investment potential of different countries. The ICP has the following objectives:

1. Establish a system of comparing GDP and its components based on purchasing power of currencies in domestic markets.

2. Establish methods and network of surveys to estimate PPP.

3. Build capacity so work becomes routine and sustainable.

Initial planning for ICP Asia Pacific was carried out in December 2002 with the stewardship of Asian Development Bank (ADB). The work on the first stage (developing the product lists) started in late March 2003. The 23 economies that participated in the ICP Asia Pacific Comparison - including 21 ADB member-economies account for over half of the world's population and about a quarter of global GDP. The 21 member-economies were: Bangladesh; Bhutan; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; People's Republic of China; Fiji Islands; HongKong, China; India; Indonesia; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Malaysia; Maldives; Mongolia; Nepal; Pakistan; Philippines; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Taipei China; Thailand; and Viet Nam. At their request, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Macao, China also took part. The 2005 ICP Asia Pacific covers the following product lists: household final consumption expenditure products, general government services,health, education, construction, equipment and dwelling rents.

This study only covers the 2005 ICP for household final consumption expenditure products except health and education for Philippines. The price survey for these products was conducted in 2005 for four quarters. The survey involved two phases of operations:

1. Mapping of the sample outlets.

2. Actual collection of prices of commodities.

The mapping of the sample outlets is done only once for the entire duration of the price survey. Thus, the sample outlets used in the collection of prices in the first survey round are the same sample outlets utilized in the succeeding survey rounds.

Sample survey data [ssd]

Establishment (retail outlet)