A list of the final costs paid by European consumers for the items in a basket of common goods. The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) is produced by each European Union member state to help measure inflation and to guide the European Central Bank in formulating monetary policy. The HICP is also used as the basis of the European Index of Consumer Prices, which is weighted toward household expenditures.
The prices measured by the HICP come from the prices of representative goods from urban and rural pricing patterns. The index tracks the prices of goods such as coffee, tobacco, meat, fruit, household appliances, cars, pharmaceuticals, electricity, clothing and many other widely used products. Owner-occupied housing costs are excluded from the HICP.
Investment dictionary. Academic. 2012.