Eurostat: euro changeover has caused the consumer price index of Estonia to rise by 0.2–0.3 percentage points

This is a report which Eurostat compiles on all countries that have joined the Euro Area right after their accession. Estonia joined the Euro Area on 1 January 2011.

According to Eurostat’s provisional assessment, the impact of euro changeover on the Estonian Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices remained between 0.2 and 0.3 percentage points in the period from December 2010 to March 2011. The estimate is in line with the experience of the first-wave changeover in 2002 as well as with the experience of Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta and Slovakia.

Eurostat considers that the methodology used by Statistics Estonia for producing the index conforms to the requirements set for the Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices and, that the reliability of the index is adequate.

At the end of the report, Eurostat states that in practice it is not possible to estimate precisely what the change of the Estonian Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices would have been if the euro changeover had not taken place. The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices is influenced by a lot of factors which may amplify or cancel each other out or ovelap with potential changeover effects.

The report is available on the website of Eurostat at http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/portal/page/portal/hicp/publications/technical_and_thematic_news_releases.