Archive for the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics

Inflation drops to lowest rate in seven years

by admin
December 10th, 2012

The annual inflation rate decreased in November by 4.1 percent as compared to the same month last year, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said on Monday.

This is the lowest rate of inflation the country has seen since March 2006.

Inflation has fallen by 1.5 percent since October .

The CAPMAS report attributed November’s decline in part to a 2.12 percent decrease in vegetable prices.

The report also pointed to natural gas prices falling by 1.14 percent due to an increase in the supply of butane cylinders. Egg production also increased, leading to a 2.5 percent decrease in prices, while the price of poultry fell by 5.1 percent and fish by 2.2 percent.

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Categories Egypt Economy
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CAPMAS: Media reports on number of Copts untrue

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September 26th, 2012

Abu Bakr al-Guindy, chairman of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), on Wednesday said the media quoted him as saying the number of Copts in Egypt is 5.7 percent of the population.

“This was according to the 1986 census,” he said.

Guindy explained in a press statement that the United Nations Statistical Commission recommended to all statistical agencies in the world that the question of religion in a census should be optional. “That is why the 1996 and 2006 censuses did not cover this point,” he said.

“We are willing to make it an obligatory question in the 2016 census if people want,” he added. “But it doesn’t matter, for Copts and Muslims have equal rights and duties.”

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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With higher food prices, inflation rate rises in August

by admin
September 10th, 2012

Inflation reached high rates during the month of August, rising by 1.2 percent compared with the previous month, while annual inflation stabilized at its previous level of 6.3 percent compared with August 2011, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

CAPMAS head Major General Abu Bakr al-Guindy told the state news agency MENA on Monday that the main factor behind last month's rise in inflation was the rise in food and drink prices, especially the price of vegetables.

Guindy added that the prices of food and drinks increased 2.4 percent in August due to the 12.2 percent increase in the prices of vegetables, including an increase of almost 20 percent for tomatoes.

Fish and seafood rose by 2.5 percent, meat and poultry by 0.1 percent, milk, cheese and eggs by about 2.1 percent and drinks by 2 percent.

Overall, food and drink prices increased by 7.8 percent compared to the same time last year.

The statistics agency head predicted that the markets would witness an increase in the demand on labor and the injection of new funds into the market, thereby increasing demands on purchasing, which could lead the monthly inflation rates to rise again — all due to the nation's current political and economic stability, and the increase of available investment opportunities. 

Egypt's inflation rate increased by 8.5 percent from January to August, compared to the same period last year. Food and drink prices increased  by 10 percent during this period, compared with the first eight months of 2011.

CAPMAS said tourist trip prices went up 4.2 percent as a result of the 1.3 percent price increase for Umra trips.

A mineral water increase of 5.26 percent caused the prices of bottled water, soda drinks and natural juices to rise by about 7 percent.

In contrast, fruit prices fell slightly by 2 percent, due to an 8.25 percent drop in lemon prices. Rice prices also fell by 0.3 percent.

The statistics showed a 7.35 percent increase in natural gas prices in August, compared with the same month last year.

Edited translation from MENA

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Statistics agency head says economy shrinking, but salvageable

by admin
July 30th, 2012

The head of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), Abu Bakr al-Gendy, said that while the economic situation is worsening, Egypt still has the potential to make economic gains.

Gendy told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Monday that there has been pessimism regarding the economy's ability to recover after the revolution, but he believes it will take off, although he cannot predict the exact timing of this boom because of the complicated political landscape.

CAPMAS will devise a new index for measuring inflation that affects low-income communities in Egypt who rely on staple goods to survive, Gendy said, adding that the wealthy have a different pattern of consumption so they will not be affected. He said that CAPMAS would ensure that the data would not be politicized and growth indicators would not be manipulated to prove government success.

Gendy said that he is waiting for the appointment of a new planning minister who will work with CAPMAS. Neither President Mohamed Morsy nor Prime Minister Hesham Qandil have yet asked the agency for any data or statistics, he added.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Official number of Egyptian Christians unknown, says CAPMAS

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June 14th, 2012

The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) does not have definitive data on the number of Egyptian Christians currently residing in the country, according to Abu Bakr al-Gendy, the agency’s chairman.

He added that population surveys are conducted in Egypt every 10 years according to international standards that respect freedoms including the privacy of religion. He said that each citizen has the right to answer or refrain from answering the questionnaire.

Gendy noted that the latest survey of Christians was in 2006.

In the agency’s 1986 survey, 5.7 percent of the total population of 48.3 million identified as Christian, Gendy said.  

Responding to a lawsuit against the agency demanding that it announce the official numbers of Christians in Egypt, Gendy said that the agency is not hiding any information. He added that if people demand official figures, the state should provide US$500 million in order to conduct the survey, or wait until 2016, as currently scheduled.

Gendy told Al-Masry Al-Youm that people can compare the population numbers from the 2006 survey to that of former surveys to determine the growth rate of Egyptian Christians, and then estimate their current number.

According to Gendy, CAPMAS cannot ensure the reliability of the data recorded at the civil status sector of the Interior Ministry, as the agency does not have a copy of the database of the civil registration system.

He added that the agency cannot rely on the numbers of Christians registered in churches because not all Christians regularly attend religious services.

Naguib Gabriel, head of the Egyptian Federation for Human Rights, said he filed a lawsuit with the State Council’s administrative court, calling on both the Prime Minister and CAPMAS to announce the exact number of the Copts in Egypt according to the database of the Interior Ministry's civil status sector.

Gabriel said that the civil sector's database was used to determine the number of voters in the People's Assembly, Shura Council and presidential elections.

The CAPMAS surveys were never accurate with regard to the number of Copts, because random field surveys cannot reflect their real numbers, said Gabriel.

He added that 10 years ago CAPMAS announced that the number of Copts did not exceed 7 million, and then 3 years later claimed that their number did not exceed 5 million.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Govt report: Total value of exports LE182.6 bn in 2011, up from 2010

by admin
June 12th, 2012

The total value of Egyptian exports was LE182.6 billion in 2011, up from LE154.8 billion in 2010.

The annual bulletin of economic relations between Egypt and the United States issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in 2011 showed that the US share of Egyptian exports was LE9.5 billion in 2011, nearly the same as LE9.6 billion in 2010.

According to the bulletin, ready-made clothes and linens were first among total exports to the US, representing 44.6 percent of exports in 2011. They made up 48.6 percent of exports in 2010.

The bulletin also reported an increase in the total value of imports to LE370.2 billion in 2011, up from LE300.4 billion in 2010. The US share of those imports was LE37.6 billion in 2011, compared to LE28.1 billion in 2010.

The most imports from the US were of iron and its products, representing 15.8 percent of the 2011 total, compared to 17 percent in 2010.

Egypt’s number of tourists, according to the bulletin, dropped to 184,600 in 2011 from 361,500 tourists in 2010. The number of nights spent by tourists in Egypt also decreased by 35.1 percent, from 4.4 million nights in 2010 to 2.9 million nights in 2011.

Edited translation from MENA

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Categories Egypt Economy
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Egypt’s unemployment rate rises to 12.4%

by admin
February 18th, 2012

Egypt's fourth quarter unemployment rate rose by two percentage points from the previous quarter, the government’s statistics office said on its website on Saturday.

Unemployment, one of the key triggers of the mass demonstrations that toppled Hosni Mubarak, rose to 12.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010. The rate was 11.9 percent in the third quarter of 2011, said the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

Official figures, however, do not fully reflect the workplace due to Egypt's high levels of informal employment.

CAPMAS added that the total workforce is around 26 million, out of the population 81 million. In the fourth quarter, more than 300,000 people joined the workforce.

Around 22 percent of the official workforce is women.

These figures show that an increase in unemployment is one of the negative aspects of the January 25 revolution. They also give a broad indication of Egypt's deteriorating economic performance.

This month, the World Bank said Egypt has asked for a US$1 billion loan.

The military-backed government is also in talks with the International Monetary Fund on a possible $3.2 billion loan to help stabilize the country’s troubled economy.

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Categories Egypt Economy
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