Real Time Prices is a live dataset compiled and updated weekly by the World Bank. It combines direct price measurement with Machine Learning estimation for missing data, drawing on sources like the World Food Program and UN-FAO. The data includes three sub-series for food, energy, and exchange rates, with unofficial deflators.
Use Cases
- Modeling food price inflation based on staple food price data.
- Analyzing fuel price volatility based on the Real Time Energy Prices sub-series.
- Forecasting unofficial exchange rate trends based on the Real Time Exchange Rates sub-series.
- Assessing market stability by combining price data from multiple official and public sources.
Strengths
- Updated weekly, with a last recorded update of 2026-03-15.
- Combines direct measurement with Machine Learning estimation to address missing data.
- Aggregates price information from multiple authoritative sources like WFP and FAO.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the Lao PDR focus.
Provenance
- Source
- World Bank Development Economics Data Group (DECDG)
- Collection Method
- Combination of direct price measurement and Machine Learning estimation, using data from WFP, FAO, and National Statistical Offices.
- Time Range
- Historical and current estimates, updated weekly.
- Freshness
- Weekly updates.
- Geography
- Lao People's Democratic Republic