Consumer price indexes (CPIs) are index numbers that measure changes in the prices of goods and services purchased or otherwise acquired by households, which households use directly, or indirectly, to satisfy their own needs and wants. In practice, most CPIs are calculated as weighted averages of the percentage price changes for a specified set, or ‘‘basket’’, of consumer products, the weights reflecting their relative importance in household consumption in some period. CPIs are widely used to index pensions and social security benefits. CPIs are also used to index other payments, such as interest payments or rents, or the prices of bonds. CPIs are also commonly used as a proxy for the general rate of inflation, even though they measure only consumer inflation. They are used by some governments or central banks to set inflation targets for purposes of monetary policy. The price data collected for CPI purposes can also be used to compile other indices, such as the price indices used to deflate household consumption expenditures in national accounts, or the purchasing power parities used to compare real levels of consumption in different countries.

In an effort to further coordinate and harmonize the collection of CPI data, the international organizations agreed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) would assume responsibility for the international collection and dissemination of national CPI data. Under this data collection initiative, countries are reporting the aggregate all items index; more detailed indexes and weights for 12 subgroups of consumption expenditure (according to the so-called COICOP-classification), and detailed metadata. These detailed data represent a valuable resource for data users throughout the world and this portal would not be possible without the ongoing cooperation of all reporting countries. In this effort, the OECD collects and validates the data for their member countries, including accession and key partner countries, whereas the IMF takes care of the collection of data for all other countries.

South African monthly The FTSE/JSE All Share Index data was procured from Bloomberg and the nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) from South African Reserve Bank (SARB) database, where the data has been seasonally adjusted specifying 2015 as the base year. Volatility measures in these markets are generated through a multivaraite EGARCH model in the WinRATS software. South African monthly consumer price index (CPI) data was procured from the International Monetary Fund’s International Financial Statistics (IFS) database, where the data has been seasonally adjusted, specifying 2010 as the base year. The inflation rate is constructed by taking the year-on-year changes in the monthly CPI figures. Inflation uncertainty was generated through the GARCH model in Eviews software. The following South African macroeconomic variables were procured from the SARB: real industrial production (IP), which is used as a proxy for real GDP, real investment (I), real consumption (C), inflation (CPI), broad money (M3), the 3-month treasury bill rate (TB3) and the policy rate (R), a measure of U.S. EPU developed by Baker et al. (2016) to account for global developments available at http://www.policyuncertainty.com/us_monthly.html.

As of December 30, 2024, the major economy with the highest yield on 10-year government bonds was Turkey, with a yield of 27.38 percent. This is due to the risks investors take when investing in Turkey, notably due to high inflation rates potentially eradicating any profits made when using a foreign currency to investing in securities denominated in Turkish lira. Of the major developed economies, United States had one the highest yield on 10-year government bonds at this time with 4.59 percent, while Switzerland had the lowest at 0.27 percent. How does inflation influence the yields of government bonds? Inflation reduces purchasing power over time. Due to this, investors seek higher returns to offset the anticipated decrease in purchasing power resulting from rapid price rises. In countries with high inflation, government bond yields often incorporate investor expectations and risk premiums, resulting in comparatively higher rates offered by these bonds. Why are government bond rates significant? Government bond rates are an important indicator of financial markets, serving as a benchmark for borrowing costs, interest rates, and investor sentiment. They affect the cost of government borrowing, influence the price of various financial instruments, and serve as a reflection of expectations regarding inflation and economic growth. For instance, in financial analysis and investing, people often use the 10-year U.S. government bond rates as a proxy for the longer-term risk-free rate.

Money Supply M2 in the United States increased to 21862.50 USD Billion in April from 21706.80 USD Billion in March of 2025. This dataset provides - United States Money Supply M2 - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Kenya’s unemployment rate was 5.57 percent in 2023. This represents a steady decline from the increase after the financial crisis. What is unemployment? The unemployment rate of a country refers to the share of people who want to work but cannot find jobs. This includes workers who have lost jobs and are searching for new ones, workers whose jobs ended due to an economic downturn, and workers for whom there are no jobs because the labor supply in their industry is larger than the number of jobs available. Different statistics suggest which factors contribute to the overall unemployment rate. The Kenyan context The first type, so-called “search unemployment”, is hardest to see in the data. The closest proxy is Kenya’s inflation rate. As workers take new jobs faster, employers are forced to increase wages, leading to higher employment. Jobs lost due to economic downturns, called “cyclical unemployment”, can be seen by decreases in the GDP growth rate, which are not significant in Kenya. Finally, “structural unemployment” refers to workers changing the industry, or even economic sector, in which they are working. In Kenya, more and more workers switch to the services sector. This is often a result of urbanization, but any structural shift in the economy’s composition can lead to this unemployment.