The COVID-19 outbreak has led to several measures, such as restricting the movement of people, closing outlets or limiting events to a maximum number of persons.
The general principles on which the index calculation is based are the following:
- Stability of the weights of the indices published
- Publication of indices for all product groups in the consumer price index
- Minimizing the number of imputed prices.
The principles applied are in line with the methodological recommendations drawn up by Eurostat in consultation with the National Statistical Institutes (Statbel in Belgium) and are available here.
The impact of the COVID-19 in July is very limited. For example, only the item "festivals" needs to be fully imputed. The weight of this item in the basket is about 0.2 %. As a reminder, in April, a full imputation was necessary for 26.5 % of the basket.
The imputation for festivals is done by carrying forward the last available prices, given that the tickets sold can normally be used next year.
As for travels and airplane tickets, an imputation is only necessary for destinations mainly outside Europe. The price evolution for destinations within Europe is currently used for this imputation.