103. Italy provided the information as requested for operating costs and, in addition to that, price data for more than 30 procurement and construction items. On this basis, the Group was abl.e to construct price indexes both for all major cost categories and for total military expenditures. 104. Norway met the Group’s requests with regard to operating costs. Concerning the category or procurement, Norway submitted price data for 10 items but alS0 a specific price index for the whole of this category. As prices reported were the same for all three years for 8 of the 10 procurement items, the Group suspected that these items might be less representative and their prices therefore likely to underestimate the actual price increases regarding the procurement of military hardware. Thus, the Group chose to use the submitted specific procurement price index for its construction of the Norwegian total military price index. Concerning the category of construction, the Norwegian contact supplied a military construction price index which was also used by the Groupi,’ In addi’tion to the data requested directly by the Group, the Norwegian contact submitted separate price indexes for 12 different cost categories together with a set of expenditure weights for 1982. On this basis, the Group constructed an alternative military price index which is shown in table 10. 105. Sweden provided the information on operating costs as requested by the Group and also price data for a relatively limited number of procurement and construction items. These data were used by the Group for its construction of procurement and construction price indexes, although it noted that the prices given for construction items were likely to underestimate the actual price increases in this set tor . This was, however, regarded to create only a limited distortion, as this 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the construction of price indexes for military expenditures, including operating costs, procurement, and construction items. This suggests that the topic is related to defense spending and budgeting, which is a characteristic of economic development and international trade.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade