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Interpreting Price and Seasonal Adjustment Labels in Economic Series

Article Quant Q&A · Author: ignoring_gravity
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Summary

The document decodes abbreviations in a national statistics trade series label. BOP refers to balance of payments, WW to worldwide, and SA to seasonally adjusted. It explains that CP means current prices: values are reported at the prices prevailing in the period being measured, without an inflation adjustment. By contrast, KP denotes constant prices, while CVM denotes a chain-linked volume measure that removes price changes and compounds volume movements.

The notes also distinguish SA from NSA, meaning not seasonally adjusted, and SAAR, meaning seasonally adjusted at an annual rate. These labels describe different treatments or presentations of data and should not be mistaken for year-on-year or quarter-on-quarter growth rates. The explanation cautions that constant-price measures use a price index specific to each series, rather than a universal consumer or producer inflation index. Consequently, real-term figures from different industries may not be directly comparable without understanding their underlying price measures.

Key ideas

  • BOP identifies a balance-of-payments series, and WW indicates worldwide coverage.
  • CP means current prices, so values are not adjusted for inflation.
  • KP means constant prices, while CVM is a chain-linked volume measure.
  • SA and NSA distinguish seasonally adjusted from unadjusted data.
  • SAAR is an annualized seasonal adjustment convention, not the same as year-on-year or quarter-on-quarter change.

Tags

Multi-assetStatisticsFixed income
Full text
# What does BOP: CP: SA mean?


# What does BOP: CP: SA mean?












If I look at this time series from the Office for National Statistics, the title reads

> Total Trade (TT): WW: Imports: BOP: CP: SA

I can't find any kind of explanation for these acronyms. I think I can figure out:

BOP: balance of payments

WW: worldwide

SA: seasonally adjusted (maybe?)

But what about CP? No idea even how to use Google to find this one out.

## Answer by demully (score 2, accepted)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/50870

See https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/uksectoraccounts/methodologies/chainlinkingmethodsusedwithintheuknationalaccounts

SA = Seasonally Adjusted

NSA = Not Seasonally Adjusted

SAAR = Seasonally Adjusted at an Annual Rate (obviously different from YOY, year-on-year; or QOQ, quarter-on-quarter)

CP = Current Prices (ie nominal value, not adj for inflation)

KP = Constant Prices (ie real terms, adj for inflation). Note that "inflation" here is not CPI or PPI, but the price index associated with that particular series. So "real terms" can mean very different things comparing eg precious metals mining to semiconductors!

CVM = Chain-linked Volume Measure (ie de-priced and compounded).

## Answer by Bob Jansen (score 2)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/50864

Assuming that you got this from the ONS @noob2 is correct, see their answer:

> You asked I saw in one of your tables the wording CP NSA. I would like to know the meaning of those letters. We said In response to your question about the wording "CP NSA" included in the PSF tables, the meaning of these are: CP: Current Prices, where data are presented in terms of the prices of the time period being estimated (that is, not adjusted for inflation).

Unfortunately, I could find a full list with abbreviations.

Shown in full with attribution under the source's licence. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Stack Exchange)

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.