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International Comparison Program - Western Asia
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| About the
International Comparison Program |
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The roots of the ICP can be traced back to the old
attempts in the early fifties and sixties of the last
century to make comparisons of economic performances
between Centrally Planned Economies (CPE) and Free Market
Economies.
In 1968, Pennsylvania University developed a methodology
for a limited project to carry out the work of these
comparisons. Henceforth, this project was transformed into
an international program, sponsored by the UNSD and
financed, largely, by the World Bank, IMF and other
donors.
The implementation of this program started in 1970 when
a modest project to undertake comparisons in 10 countries
constituted the first ICP Round. Ever since that first
initiation, the ICP was developed as a recurrent
international event, which was implemented in six phases.
Varying but increasing numbers of countries from all
regions of the world participated in its successive
Rounds.
The 6th ICP Round took place in the years 1993-1996 and
covered 118 countries from all the regions of the world
for the first time. In this round, the World Bank assumed
the role of global coordinator for the ICP in non-OECD
countries, while OECD and Eurostat coordinate the ICP in
their member countries.
The ICP structure, scope, objectives, methodology and
modalities of work had all undergone substantive
improvements. The revamped ICP is now redesigned to be a
sustainable, credible, transparent and growth focused
international program.
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