It is calculated by converting GNP to US dollars on the basis of purchasing power parity rather than the exchange rate. The calculation is made by converting one unit of the currency (the US dollar, in this case) into the number of units of national currency required to buy some defined goods and services in some other country. The estimates are expressed in international dollars—a unit of account that has the same purchasing power over total GNP as the US dollar (see World Bank Development Report, 1997: 251).
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