History of ICP and the Involvement of Asia and the Pacific

In 1970s, three ICP Phases were conducted with benchmark years 1970, 1973, and 1975, involving 10, 16, and 34 economies in the world, respectively. The 1970 benchmark included two ADB regional members, India and Japan; expanded the coverage to the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines in the 1973 benchmark; and then, included Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand in the 1975 benchmark.

In 1980s, the ICP Phase IV (with benchmark year of 1980) and ICP Phase V (with benchmark year of 1985) significantly expanded coverage to 60 and 64 economies in the world, respectively. The 1980 benchmark covered seven ADB regional members: Hong Kong, China; India; Indonesia; Japan; the Republic of Korea; Pakistan; and Sri Lanka. Then, together with economies covered in the 1980 benchmark, four ADB regional members (Bangladesh, Nepal, the Philippines, and Thailand) were included in the succeeding 1985 benchmark year.

With a coverage of 117 economies in the world and benchmark year of 1993, only one ICP Phase was conducted in the decade of 1990s. The 1993 ICP Phase covered 13 ADB regional members: Bangladesh; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; the Republic of Korea; the Lao People’s Democratic Republic; Malaysia; Nepal; Pakistan; the Philippines; Sri Lanka; Thailand; and Viet Nam.

In its 34th session, the UN Statistical Commission launched the 2005 ICP cycle. The ICP Global Office was established at the World Bank with the primary role of coordinating the overall program under a new global governance. Covering all geographic regions of the world, five regional agencies started to directly coordinate with the statistical offices of the 146 participating economies.

Asian Development Bank assumed the role of Regional Implementing Agency (RIA) and established the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, coordinating with 23 participating economies. Among them, 21 are ADB regional members: Bangladesh; Bhutan; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; Fiji; Hong Kong, China; India; Indonesia; the Lao People’s Democratic Republic; Malaysia; Maldives; Mongolia; Nepal; Pakistan; the People's Republic of China; the Philippines; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Taipei,China; Thailand; and Viet Nam. Macau, China and Islamic Republic of Iran also joined the ICP for Asia and the Pacific. This is the first time for the People’s Republic of China to participate in the ICP.

Some of the ADB regional members, namely, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea are part of the ICP undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Additionally, ADB regional members in Central Asia, namely, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan, are covered under the regional ICP coordinated by the Interstate Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS-STAT).

Preliminary report and full report were released in 2007. Then in 2012, ADB also released a research study on the 2009 Purchasing Power Parity Update for Selected Economies in Asia and the Pacific.

The 2011 ICP round was the largest ever conducted with 177 economies participating at the full economy level. In 2016, the UN Statistical Commission established the ICP as a permanent element of the global statistical work program to be conducted regularly and more frequently. The 2017 ICP cycle covered 176 economies, or more than 99%, of the world population and the world’s economic activity.

For the 2011 and 2017 ICP cycles, Asian Development Bank continued its the role as the Regional Implementing Agency (RIA) and Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. For the 2011 and 2017 ICP cycle, 22 ADB regional members participated in ICP for Asia and the Pacific: Bangladesh; Bhutan; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; Fiji; Hong Kong, China; India; Indonesia; the Lao People’s Democratic Republic; Malaysia; Maldives; Mongolia; Myanmar; Nepal; Pakistan; the People's Republic of China; the Philippines; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Taipei,China; Thailand; and Viet Nam. Macau, China also joined the 2011 ICP for Asia and the Pacific. The 2011 cycle is also the first time that Myanmar participated in ICP. In 2011 ICP, in addition to Fiji, the ADB member economies from the Pacific namely, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papau New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu also participated under Pacific Islands comparisons coordinated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics but their participation was limited to household consumption.

Some of the ADB regional members, namely, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea are part of the ICP undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Additionally, ADB regional members in Central Asia, namely, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan, are covered under the regional ICP coordinated by the Interstate Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS-STAT). Georgia was not part of any region (singleton economy) in 2011 ICP and was linked to the CIS comparison through bilateral comparison with Armenia and in 2017 ICP was included as a guest participant in the Eurostat-OECD comparison in 2017.

The summary report and full report for the 2011 ICP for Asia and the Pacific were released in 2014. The full report and summary report along with the detailed online database for the 2017 ICP for Asia and the Pacific was released in 2020.

The latest completed ICP cycle is for the reference year 2021 in which 176 economies across the world participated. Following the UN Statistical Commission's decision in 2016 to conduct the ICP cycle every three years beginning from 2017, the ICP cycle was due in 2020. However, due to the COVID-19, the ICP Governing Board postponed the ICP cycle to reference year 2021.

For the 2021 ICP cycle, the Asian Development Bank continued its role as the Regional Implementing Agency (RIA) and Regional Office for ICP Asia and the Pacific. For this benchmark round, 21 participating ADB regional members were namely: Bangladesh; Bhutan; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; Fiji; Hong Kong, China; India; Indonesia; the Lao People’s Democratic Republic; Malaysia; Maldives; Mongolia; Nepal; Pakistan; the People's Republic of China; the Philippines; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Taipei,China; Thailand; and Viet Nam.

The ICP includes several regions, with a Regional Implementing Agency (RIA) responsible for coordinating and implementing the program and producing regional PPPs and related results following uniform methods and standards. These RIAs are the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Asia and the Pacific, the African Development Bank (for Africa), the Interstate Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (for the Commonwealth of Independent States), Eurostat (for European countries), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for non-European OECD countries, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (for Latin America and the Caribbean), and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (for Western Asia). The World Bank is the Global Implementing Agency that coordinates with the RIAs and compilation of global PPPs and related results by linking the regional results following established methods.

Under the ICP’s global governance arrangements, ADB’s regional members, who are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), namely, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea, participate in the PPP comparisons led by the OECD and, hence, are not part of the ICP for Asia and the Pacific. ADB regional member economies from Central Asia, namely, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan participated as per the existing arrangements with the Interstate Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS-STAT) as the RIA, while Georgia is included as a guest participant in the Eurostat-OECD comparison.