CAPMAS and the Central Bank of Egypt: which body publishes the headline inflation rate and which the core rate
Background
The inflation rate of 13.9 per cent now in the news is a CAPMAS figure, and the agency behind it is worth knowing on its own.
CAPMAS stands for the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics.
It is Egypt's official statistics body, and price, population and survey numbers for the country are cited to it.
Its monthly consumer price release is what both the press and the markets treat as Egypt's inflation rate.
A separate measure, core inflation, comes from the Central Bank of Egypt rather than from CAPMAS, and in the same month it eased to 14.1 per cent.
Knowing which body publishes which number is the point: the headline rate is CAPMAS, the core rate is the central bank.
The central bank in turn uses the price data when it decides its policy interest rates.
In plain words
CAPMAS Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics — Egypt's official statistics agency.