Egypt has been a subscriber to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) since 2005. According to a 2006 report by the IMF, the economic and financial statistics provided by Egypt to the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) are adequate for surveillance purposes. The information on the IMF's DSBB indicates that Egypt meets with the SDDS requirements for coverage, timeliness, and periodicity for all but four categories, and data in most cases have advance release calendars and are simultaneously released to all interested parties. Among the shortcomings identified in Egypt's statistics on the DSBB is that advance notice of methodological changes is not given as per IMF SDDS requirements and the Ministry of Finance has not published documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing fiscal statistics.

General Overview

According to the 2006 Article IV report published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the economic and financial statistics provided by Egypt to the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) "are broadly adequate for surveillance purposes" (p. 39). Egypt became a subscriber to the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) in January 2005, although there are still issues relating to the timeliness and periodicity of data on labor market and central government operations (IMF 2006).

In its 2005 Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC), the IMF notes that the Egyptian authorities are committed to conforming to international standards, and with the goal of economic liberalization, the authorities have made significant efforts to improve the statistics necessary for developing and monitoring economic policies. According to the IMF's 2005 report, the agencies responsible for compilation and dissemination of data in Egypt are the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), and the Ministry of Planning (MoP) (now called the Ministry of Economic Development). The MoF disseminates government finance statistics, and the CBE is responsible for monetary and balance of payments statistics.

The Principles

Comprehensive economic and financial data, disseminated on a timely basis.

CP

According to information provided on IMF's DSSB website, Egypt meets with the SDDS requirements for coverage, timeliness and periodicity for all but four categories. Egypt is availing itself of a flexibility option on the timeliness on Labor market statistics, namely data on employment, unemployment and wages (for which is takes the flexibility option on periodicity of data as well). Egypt also avails of the flexibility option on the timeliness and periodicity of general government operations (IMF SDDS website).

Ready and equal access to official statistics.

CP

According to information provided on IMF's SDDS website, data in most cases have advance release calendars and are not provided only if they are deemed as not applicable. Data are released simultaneously to all interested parties for all data categories except: general government operations, central government operations, and central government debt.

Official statistics must have the confidence of their users. Transparency of its practices and procedures is a key factor.

CP

According to information provided on the IMF's SDDS website, the terms and conditions under which data are released are clearly stipulated in various laws and decrees, and the terms of confidentiality of individually identifiable information are clearly defined for all categories. Internal government access to data prior to release is identifiable for all data categories, however, attached ministerial commentary is not identifiable for several data categories. Prior notices are given in case of revisions; however, advance notice of methodological changes is not given as per IMF SDDS requirements.

A set of standards that deals with the coverage, periodicity and timeliness of data must also address the quality of statistics.

CP

According to the information provided on the IMF's SDDS website, for most data categories, there is dissemination of documentation on statistical methodology and dissemination of component detail, reconciliations with related data, and statistical frameworks that make possible cross-checks and checks of reasonableness. However for data on general government operations, central government operations and central government debt, the Ministry of Finance has not published documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing these statistics. Summary methodologies are provided for all data categories.