In March 2004, Bureau of Economic Analysis Foundation signed a contract with the World Bank to perform actions required for coordination, consulting and technical support of the ICP Global Round in the CIS region.
The International Comparison Program (ICP) of Gross Domestic Product on the basis of Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) is the largest world statistical project which was initiated by the United Nations.
The program was first established in 1968 as to undertake comparisons in 10 countries in 1970, further ICP rounds have been conducted in 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990 (only partial), and 1993. By the time of the last round, the ICP had expanded to the status of a truly global program. Coverage increased from the initial 10 countries in 1970 to 118 in 1993, covering all regions of the world for the first time. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in collaboration with the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) has continued to collect price data to estimate PPPs in its member states. Non-member countries also participate in the OECD/Eurostat comparisons. The Russian Federation has been participating in the comparisons since 1996.
In 2003-2006 a Global Round of the ICP is being conducted worldwide.
The CIS countries have been participating in the International comparisons on a regular basis. In accordance with the decision made by the Council of the Heads of the CIS National Statistical Services, the CIS Statistical Committee and Rosstat were appointed regional coordinators. The comparison results are presented as the PPPs of the national currencies to the Russian ruble.
About 150 countries are taking part in the 2003-2006 ICP round. All countries are arranged into 6 groups: 40 countries comprise the OECD/Eurostat group; 50 countries are participating in the Africa region, 23 in Asia, 10 in Latin America, 13 in West Asia and 12 in the CIS.
Bureau of Economic Analysis Foundation acts as a Regional Office for the CIS region.
