RDP 2000-06: Inflation Targeting and Exchange Rate Fluctuations in Australia Appendix D: Data Definitions and Sources

Chris Ryan and Christopher Thompson

September 2000

The estimations used quarterly data up to 1998:Q4 which were available as at May 1999.

y Real non-farm output
Definition: Real non-farm gross domestic product.
  Units: Chain volume, 1996/97 reference prices, (sa).
  Source: ABS Cat No 5206.0
ner Nominal exchange rate
  Definition:
 		 Australian dollar against a GNP-weighted basket of G7 currencies.
  Units: Indexed to March 1985 = 100.
  Source: Reserve Bank of Australia, unpublished data
rer Real exchange rate
  Definition:
 
 		 Australian dollar against a trade-weighted basket of major-trading-partner currencies, adjusted by domestic and foreign consumer prices.
  Units: Indexed to March 1985 = 100.
  Source: Reserve Bank of Australia, unpublished data
tot Terms of trade
  Definition: Terms of trade for goods and services.
  Units: Indexed to 1996/97 = 100, (sa).
  Source: ABS Cat No 5206.0
wy Foreign output
  Definition: Real US gross domestic product.
  Units: Chain volume, US$ 1992 reference prices, (sa).
  Source: Datastream, USGDP…D
i Nominal cash rate
  Definition: Australian official cash rate.
  Source: Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin, Table F.11
wr Foreign real short-term interest rate
  Definition:
 
 		 GNP-weighted average of the nominal policy interest rate less four-quarter-ended core inflation for the US, Japan, Germany and the UK.
  Source:
 
 
 
 
 
 
  		Nominal policy interest rates for the US, Japan and the UK – Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin, Table F.11 Datastream, BDSU0110 for the German policy rate. Core consumer price indices sourced from Datastream,
USCPXFDEE for the US,
JPCPXFFDF for Japan,
UKRPAXMIF for the UK,
WGUS0057E for Germany.
  Weights are based on US dollar GNP data for each country contained in annual issues of the World Bank World Atlas.
p Aggregate consumer prices
  Definition: Treasury underlying consumer price index.
  Units: Indexed to 1989/90 = 100.
  Source:
 
 		 ABS Cat No 6401.0. Note that the ABS discontinued publishing this measure of underlying consumer prices from the September quarter 1999 onwards.
ntp Non-tradeable sector consumer prices
  Definition:
 
 
 		 Laspeyres index of non-tradeable sector components of the Treasury underlying consumer price index. Further details on the construction of this series are contained in Bharucha and Kent (1998, Appendix A).
  Units: Indexed to 1989/90 = 100.
  Source:
 		 Components of the Treasury underlying consumer price index contained in ABS Cat No 6401.0
ntulc Non-tradeable sector unit labour costs
  Definition:
 		 Non-tradeable sector wages per person divided by non-tradeable sector output per person.
  Non-tradeable sector wages per person were calculated as an industry full-time employment-weighted average of average weekly ordinary-time earnings (AWOTE) per employee in the non-tradeable industries.
  Non-tradeable sector output per person was calculated as total gross value added in the non-tradeable industries divided by total employment in the non-tradeable industries.
  For the purposes of this calculation, non-tradeable industries consists of all industries excluding mining and manufacturing.
  Units: Indexed to 1989/90 = 100.
  Source:
 		 AWOTE by industry: ABS Cat No 6302.0 (seasonally adjusted in Eviews using multiplicative X-11).
  Full-time adult employment by industry: unpublished data provided by the ABS (seasonally adjusted by the ABS).
  Total employment by industry: ABS Cat No 6203.0 (seasonally adjusted by the ABS).
  Gross value added by industry: ABS Cat No 5206.0 (seasonally adjusted by the ABS).
pm Import prices
  Definition:
 
 		 Implicit price deflator for merchandise imports, excluding fuels and lubricants, civil aircraft and Reserve Bank of Australia imports of gold.
  Units: Indexed to 1989/90 = 100.
  Source:
 		 ABS Cat No 5206.0. Data on Reserve Bank of Australia imports of gold are unpublished.
wp Foreign export (and consumer) prices
  Definition:
 		 GNP-weighted average of domestic currency export prices in each of the G7 economies.
  Units: Indexed to 1989/90 = 100.
  Source:
 
 
 
 
 
 
  		Export price data is sourced from Datastream,
USIPDEXPE for the US,
JPEP1975F for Japan,
CNEXPPRCE for Canada,
BDEXPPRCF for Germany,
UKEP1975F for the UK,
ITEP1975F for Italy,
FREP1975F for France.
  Weights are based on US dollar GNP data for each country contained in annual issues of the World Bank World Atlas.