the harmonised index of consumer prices, or hicp, remains the appropriate price measure. however, it did recommend that an extended hicp should be computed over time, to account for owner - occupied housing ( ooh ). let me emphasise the phrase ‘ over time ’. some time will actually be required to construct such a harmonised index. as this audience knows very well, the issue of incorporating ooh into the hicp ( yes, we speak in acronyms here, as in many other fields ) is not straightforward. it is indeed, in principle, desirable for representativeness and cross - country comparability, but at the same time it faces non - trivial implementation challenges. currently, there is considerable crosscountry heterogeneity in the way ( if any ) ooh is included in national inflation indices, and all approaches have their pros and cons. more analysis and exchange of views on this topic is crucial, and this workshop offers a good opportunity for discussion about it. 2 moreover, the implementation of any new price index incorporating ooh needs to be well managed. in particular, information should be communicated carefully as the existing hicp would continue to serve as the main reference for monetary policy purposes. integrating ooh into the consumer price index is not the only challenge for price statisticians beyond the pandemic. several other key issues are linked to technological and market developments, such as the explosion of e - commerce, the increasing numbers the rental equivalence approach matches up the characteristics of the owner - occupied housing stock with equivalent rental properties and calculates what it would cost, at current rental prices, to rent the whole stock of owner - occupied housing. the net acquisitions approach measures the costs associated with the household sector acquiring new residential housing. implementations of this approach typically include all money spent on the net acquisitions of dwellings by the household sector including self - builds, spending on major renovations and repairs and the various service costs associated with acquiring new homes. of product varieties and the faster pace of product and outlet replacement. specifically, the eternal issue of how to account for quality changes is being exacerbated by the increased speed of innovation. on the other hand, i see the growth in e - commerce as an opportunity, as well as a challenge, for price statisticians. we must find innovative ways to collect price data on innovative trade channels, and this is indeed a problem. but the solution ( s ), if smart and creative enough,

risk will be less concentrated on banks, thereby making them less vulnerable in the event of shocks, whilst it remains to be fully understood if and where credit risks are again concentrating on some particular sub - sectors in the non - bank constituencies. and fourth, we must be aware of the fact that episodes of mispricing of credit risk will necessarily be followed by adjustments. it depends on all the parties concerned that such adjustment be smooth and orderly and not abrupt and sharp, which in the second case would be adverse for the global economy i am now at your disposal for questions.