CAPMAS head talks prison for bad census data, inflation, population

CAIRO – 31 March 2017: Refusing to give information or giving false information to CAPMAS representatives is a misdemeanor that can be punished by up to six months in prison according to a 1914 law, Maj. Gen. Abu Bakr al-Gendy, head of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), said.

CAPMAS is collecting data for Egypt’s 2017 census, and its representatives have faced resistance from many residents wary of giving out their information.

As for Egypt’s population growth rate, Gendy said it is five times that of China and eight times that of Korea.

During an interview with “

Extra News

” satellite channel, Gendy said, “Population is considered the most important state resource, provided that citizens are productive, educated and healthy; otherwise, they will be deemed mere burdens.”

Gendy described the “inflation rate” as the most important figure that CAPMAS generates. He said inflation rate statistics are gathered through collecting the prices of a thousand commodities and services from 15,000 fixed sources.

It is the duty of the Central Bank of Egypt to set policies to address inflation issues, according to Gendy.

The CAPMAS head also added that Egypt’s unemployment rate dropped to 12.4 percent in Q4 2016 from 12.6 percent in Q3 2016.

He also clarified that Egypt’s problem does not lay in the population size itself but rather the population growth rate, pointing out that starting in July, the census will be based on information from about 4,500 health bureaus that were automated all over Egypt in March.