Prices and purchasing power parities (PPP)

Inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services that households acquire for the purpose of consumption in an economy over a period of time.

PPPs are the rates of currency conversion that equalize the purchasing power of different currencies by eliminating the differences in price levels between countries. In their simplest form, PPPs are simply price relatives that show the ratio of the prices in national currencies of the same good or service in different countries.

This second edition of the SPPI Guide is a complement to the International Producer Price Index Manual published by the IMF in 2004 in two ways: it focuses on service-specific aspects in the PPI compilation by developing further the conceptual framework and it adds detailed descriptions of PPI measurement for a wide range of individual service industries.