preparations for the next cycle of the ICP proposed for 2011. The proposal was approved by the UNSC at its 39th session in 2009, and the UNSC requested that the World Bank host the Global Office and coordinate the global program for the 2011 cycle. The ICP 2011, with its considerably expanded coverage of 199 economies, including 21 Pacific Island economies whose participation was limited to individual household consumption, brought a broader acceptance compared to earlier exercises. Furthermore, the wide availability of reliable PPPs, referenced to 2011 and published in 2014 in Purchasing Power Parities and the Real Size of World Economies: A Comprehensive Report of the 2011 International Comparison Program (World Bank 2014), increased their use in subject matter and across the globe. Notably, the international poverty line was updated in 2015 to $1.90 a day, reflecting PPPs for 2011. The major improvements in the program were documented by the FOC, which was asked by the UNSC at its 45th session, in March 2014, to evaluate the 2011 cycle (ECOSOC 2016). The FOC observed that the 2011 cycle had put the program on a firm methodological basis by introducing approaches such as the global core lists and applying major technical innovations. Specifically, the provision of technical assistance to countries, the broad documentation of metadata, and the further development of ICP operational guides and handbooks contributed significantly to the knowledge of staff conducting the work around the world. The 47th session of the UNSC, held in March 2016, discussed the future of the ICP in light of the recommendations of the FOC in its evaluation of ICP 2011. As a result, the UNSC instituted the ICP as a permanent element of the global statistical work program to be conducted at more frequent intervals from the 2017 cycle onward. At the same time, the UNSC also endorsed the strengthening of the governance structure5 consisting of the ICP Governing Board, the Inter-Agency Coordination Group (IACG), the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), with its intermittent task forces, and implementing agencies at the national, regional, and global levels. The structure ensures efficient functioning
and balanced representation of countries and coordinating agencies in the governing bodies. The Global Office was established as a permanent unit at the World Bank, responsible for global coordination, data validation, calculation of global results, and related day-to day organizational activities. With regard to the methodology of the ICP, the UNSC agreed that no major changes should be introduced and that a research agenda, to be developed by the TAG, should focus on methodological improvements to be considered for future comparison cycles. With the launch of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,6 the UNSC also emphasized the need to link the capacity-building activities of the ICP with efforts to enhance the statistical capacity of countries for monitoring progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. The UNSC also suggested exploring a closer alignment of ICP price surveys with national consumer price index compilation. Data collection for the ICP’s 2017 cycle began in 2016 and continued through to the end of 2018. The number of participating economies decreased slightly, to 176, with Fiji the only representative from the Pacific Islands. Argentina and Guyana joined the Latin America and the Caribbean comparison, while Colombia and Costa Rica moved to the OECD exercise. Some other economies that participated in the 2011 cycle were affected by conflict or natural disasters and were not included in 2011. These included Guatemala and the República Bolivariana de Venezuela in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Republic of Yemen in Western Asia. The AfDB oversaw the work of the 50 economies in Africa, with the Economic and Statistical Observatory of Sub-Saharan Africa (AFRISTAT) coordinating 30 of those and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) coordinating the remaining 20. Three economies in this region also participated in the Western Asia exercise (the Arab Republic of Egypt, Morocco, and Sudan). The ADB coordinated the work of its 22 participating economies, while CIS-STAT oversaw its eight economies and an experimental participation by Uzbekistan. UN-ECLAC coordinated the
History of the International Comparison Program
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