The retail prices index for Germany at a glance

Based on a total of 530 price series of consumer price statistics, the Federal Statistical Office calculates the retail prices index (RPI). The retail prices index is an index of selling prices, including only sold goods and excluding services. The index of retail prices for Germany as a whole is available as of January 1991.

The RPI is institutionally defined; it refers to merchandise sold by retail enterprises to households. In line with that institutional definition, the results are published showing a breakdown based on the national Classification of Economic Activities (WZ), which has been harmonised at an international level. The results as of 2005 are based on the most recent edition of the classification, which was published in 2008 (WZ 2008).

The RPI is the basis for deflating retail turnovers in national accounts (e.g. calculating turnover in real terms). A (net) retail prices index, which excludes value-added tax, is additionally calculated for this purpose as of January 2005. It is also used to guarantee recurrent payments in escalator clauses (also referred to as stable-value clauses) for long-term contractual relationships. For that purpose, the RPI is made available according to its original specification, i.e. the gross index including value-added tax..

The RPI index is a Laspeyres price index with a fixed base year, as is the consumer price index (CPI), i.e. the index values refer to the consumption structures of the year defined as the base year. Normally, reweighting is done at five-year intervals. The current base year is 2005. The consumption structures are kept constant until a new base year is introduced.

Following the change over to the new base year of 2005, retail trade is shown – as before – excluding the "sale of motor vehicles". In addition, results are provided for parts of the economic branch "sale of motor vehicles". The latter index comprises the items "sale of motor vehicles" (WZ 45.1), "retail trade of motor vehicle parts and accessories" (WZ 45.32), and "sale, maintenance and repair of motorcycles and related parts and accessories" (WZ 45.4). It is thus ensured that all the series published so far will also be available in the future.

As a result of the change over, the methodological changes applied to the consumer price index have analogous effects on the retail prices index. This refers to the modifications of the weighting pattern and to the application of a new formula regarding the aggregation of Land results to form the federal result.

Current monthly results are published by the Federal Statistical Office in the middle of the subsequent month. They are released together with the CPI results and the Harmonised Consumer Price Index (HICP) in the publication "Verbraucherpreisindizes für Deutschland" as part of Fachserie 17, Reihe 7 of the Federal Statistical Office.

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