TBK Consult releases the 2007 global BECH index

The share of world demand for industrial products increases in Europe and the Middle East and decreases in Asia and Africa. However new data from the CIA Fact Book may distort the comparison.

The 2007 BECH index shows changes in world demand for industrial products and services. The North American share of world demand decreases from 2006 to 2007 with 0,7% points, while EU share increases with 2,7% points. Also the Rest of Europe share rose from 2,9% in 2006 to 3,5% in 2007.

The Middle East share rose from 1,8% in 2006 to 3,2% in 2007 probably due to increasing oil prices.

The Asian share of world demand decreases from 23,2% in 2006 to 19,4% in 2007 mainly due to decreases from China and Japan.

The BECH for a country is calculated as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) using the PPP principle multiplied by the GDP per capita ratio. The source for GDP/PPP estimates is the CIA Fact Book.

The comparison is probably highly affected by the change in the source data from the CIA. Thus the above mentioned changed should rather be considered as benchmark adjustments.

The CIA Fact Book data for GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) has been rebased using new PPP conversion rates, benchmarked to the year 2005, which were released on 17 December 2007 by the International Comparison Program (ICP). The 2005 PPP data replace previous estimates, many from studies dating to 1993 or earlier. The preliminary ICP report provides estimates of internationally comparable price levels and the relative purchasing power of currencies for 146 countries. The 2005 benchmark revises downward the size of the world economy in PPP terms from the previous estimates, and changes the relative sizes of many of the world's economies (source: CIA).

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