Saudi Arabia
6/6
All six pilot dimensions verified: methodology, archive, machine-readable access, statistical calendar, multilingual publication and method-change visibility.
Research Release 002 · 17 August 2026
Same inflation label. Different measurement system.
Release 002 compares CPI measurement architecture across five MENA statistical systems, reconstructs the information set available around a real monetary-policy decision, and publishes a transparency benchmark that treats missing verification as missing—not as failure.
5 statistical systems3 research objectsofficial-source audit5×6
country × transparency dimensions audited across methodology, historical access, machine-readable data, release timing, multilingual publication and method-change visibility.
Object 01 · CPI measurement comparability
Jordan · Egypt · Morocco · Saudi Arabia · United Arab Emirates.
| Country | Reference / base | Weight architecture | Perimeter | What matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan | 2018=100 | HIES-derived; Laspeyres | Sampled outlets across all governorates | Older and newer reference series coexist in historical tables; dissemination rule is documented. |
| Egypt | FY 2018/19 | Weights from FY2017/18 HIECS | Urban, rural and Total Republic publications | Inflation used for monetary-policy communication may refer specifically to urban headline inflation. |
| Morocco | 2017=100 | 2014 household expenditure survey + census | Urban households; 18 cities | The current CPI is explicitly urban and the 2017 redesign expanded the basket. |
| Saudi Arabia | 2023=100 | 2023 HIES + national accounts; annual weight updates | 23 cities in 13 regions | Chain-linking means the weight system is refreshed annually while the published reference remains 2023=100. |
| United Arab Emirates | Not verified in current audit | Not verified in current audit | National and emirate products | Machine-readable UAE.Stat access is strong; CPI-specific methodological metadata needs a deeper audit. |
A missing field is not coded as institutional absence. It means the field was not verified in the current audit perimeter.
Object 02 · What Was Knowable?
Jordan · 18 June 2026 monetary-policy decision.
Do not explain a June decision with July data.
The Central Bank of Jordan maintained its key interest rate at 5.75% on 18 June 2026. The reconstruction below freezes the information set at the decision date.
17 JUN 2026
May CPI available in Arabic
DoS reported 1.88% cumulative inflation for January–May 2026 and 2.83% year-on-year inflation for May.
18 JUN 2026
Policy decision
CBJ maintained the key rate at 5.75%. Its release cited reserves of USD 27.2bn at end-May, 9.5 months of import coverage, 1.88% five-month inflation, 13.3% remittance growth, 1.6% national-export growth and a 9.2% decline in tourism income.
AFTER 18 JUN 2026
Post-decision data excluded
June CPI and later macro releases do not belong in the reconstructed decision-time information set.
Object 03 · Statistical Transparency Benchmark v0.1
Pilot evidence audit, not a definitive institutional ranking.
Morocco
6/6
All six pilot dimensions verified, including a formal publication calendar and explicit methodological redesign notices.
Jordan
4+2p
Four dimensions verified; machine-readable access and method-change visibility remain partial in the current audit.
UAE
3+2p
Historical access, machine-readable access and multilingual publication verified; methodology and method-change evidence partial; advance calendar unverified.
Egypt
2+3p
Methodology and historical archive verified; three dimensions partial and advance release timing unverified in the current audit.
Rule
No zero by silence.
Unverified means unverified. A missing API, calendar or methods page is not coded as absent until absence is itself established.
What Release 002 establishes
Comparability requires metadata
The same CPI label can conceal different reference years, weight systems, geographic populations and index architectures.
Historical analysis requires vintages
A policy evaluation is invalid if it silently imports information published after the decision date.
Transparency is measurable
Methodology, release timing, machine readability, archive quality and revision visibility can be audited as separate evidence dimensions.
Research standard
Release 002 records verified institutional evidence as verified, unresolved fields as partial or unverified, and never infers a negative from a failed search. Scores are pilot evidence-coverage summaries, not claims about institutional quality beyond the audited dimensions.
Suggested citation: MENA Open Data & Evidence Lab (2026). Research Release 002: CPI measurement, decision-time information sets and statistical transparency. Version 1.0, 17 August 2026.