Measuring inflation in the EU in times of COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis had a major impact on the measurement of inflation around the world, as price observation in shops became impossible and some markets completely closed down. This article looks at the measures taken during the crisis in 2020 to ensure the continued compilation of the European harmonised index of consumer prices, which is the comparable measure of inflation produced in all EU Member States and the key inflation target measure for European monetary policy. We describe the various principles underlying the overall approach, its practical implementation and provide an analysis of the impact on the overall inflation rate from some of the choices made.