Last updated 2026-10-19 · By William Simpson

Central banks and official data sources

Official institutions publish different measures on different schedules. This directory distinguishes the publisher, subject, and typical cadence without claiming that Liminal integrates every listed source.

Where do I find official inflation data for each major economy?

Find inflation data at the responsible national statistical authority, checking which index the country’s central bank uses for its policy assessment. International databases can support comparisons but may update later. Use the original release for publication details, revisions, and definitions rather than assuming every country publishes an equivalent consumer-price measure.

Examples include BLS in the United States, ONS in the UK, and Eurostat for harmonized European comparisons.

How do I read each central bank's decision statement?

Read the institution’s official statement, identify the policy instrument changed or maintained, and compare the explanation with the prior decision. Check forecasts, votes, minutes, and press conferences separately when available. Central banks differ in mandates and operating frameworks, so do not assume a rate headline summarizes every decision or future commitment.

Use the policy publication page linked in the directory and its current meeting calendar.

What is the release calendar for key data?

There is no single official global release calendar. Each statistical agency, central bank, regulator, or commodity institution publishes its own schedule, sometimes with changes for holidays or disruptions. Aggregate calendars are convenient discovery tools, but verify important publication times and reference periods directly with the institution responsible for the release.

Store the calendar’s time zone and distinguish scheduled dates from confirmed publications.

Which official source should I use when two databases disagree?

Use the responsible publisher’s current release and methodological notes to investigate a disagreement, then compare vintages, units, adjustments, and timestamps across the databases. The newest retrieval is not necessarily the newest observation. A discrepancy can reflect a legitimate revision or definition change rather than a simple error in either source.

Document the reconciliation instead of silently choosing the value that fits the preferred narrative.

Are central-bank forecasts official facts about the future?

Central-bank forecasts are official publications of conditional estimates, not established future facts. They reflect assumptions, models, judgments, and information available at the time. Read the forecast horizon and scenarios carefully, and distinguish a staff projection from a policy commitment or the central bank’s measurement of current economic conditions.

Save the publication vintage when comparing forecasts with later outcomes.

Where do I find historical versions of official economic data?

Some publishers provide vintage datasets, release archives, or revision tables that preserve earlier estimates. Availability varies by institution and series, so verify what each archive actually retains. Use the version available at the research decision time when evaluating historical judgments rather than assuming today’s revised database reflects what was known then.

ALFRED is a starting point for vintage economic series; coverage must be checked individually.

How do I cite an official economic release correctly?

Cite the institution, release or table title, publication date, reference period, series identifier when available, and a stable URL. State units, adjustment method, and any transformation used. If the value is revised, identify the vintage so another reader can reproduce the number rather than retrieving a later version and finding a mismatch.

A chart citation should describe both the original source and the calculation applied.

Do official data sources guarantee unrestricted reuse?

Official publication does not automatically establish unrestricted reuse of every dataset, image, or third-party component on the site. Review the institution’s terms, attribution requirements, and redistribution rules for the intended use. Public viewing, API retrieval, and commercial republishing are separate permissions, particularly when the publisher aggregates material from other owners.

Maintain a source-rights register before building an externally published dashboard.

Where are the official links and typical release cadences?

The directory below lists institutions and typical publication patterns, not fixed future dates. Many agencies publish several datasets with different schedules, and policy meetings follow current calendars rather than a monthly rule. Confirm the specific release page before planning a review or interpreting an expected publication as already available.

Links were checked on 2026-10-19 where accessible. A listed source is not a claim of an active Liminal integration.

Institution	What it publishes	Typical cadence; verify the current calendar	Official link
Federal Reserve	U.S. monetary-policy decisions, minutes, reports, balance-sheet statistics	Scheduled decisions; minutes afterward; selected weekly statistics	Federal Reserve
FRED, St. Louis Fed	Aggregated economic series and metadata	Follows each underlying release; no universal refresh time	FRED
BLS	CPI, employment, producer prices, labor measures	Major releases monthly; some surveys quarterly or annual	BLS
BEA	GDP, personal income, PCE prices, international accounts	GDP quarterly with successive estimates; PCE monthly	BEA
U.S. Census Bureau	Retail trade, housing, manufacturing, international trade	Many monthly or quarterly releases	Census
U.S. Treasury	Yield statistics, fiscal data, auction information	Daily yield observations on business days; auctions and fiscal reports on their schedules	Treasury
ECB	Euro-area monetary policy, statistics, projections	Meeting calendar and dataset-specific schedules	ECB
Bank of England	UK policy decisions, minutes, projections, monetary statistics	Scheduled decisions; other series monthly or quarterly	BoE
ONS	UK prices, employment, output, trade	Many monthly releases; national accounts also quarterly	ONS calendar
Bank of Japan	Policy decisions, outlook reports, monetary statistics	Meeting calendar; statistical series vary	BoJ
People’s Bank of China	Monetary-policy communications, financial and credit statistics	Communications and statistical schedules vary by instrument and release	PBoC
Reserve Bank of India	Policy decisions, monetary and financial statistics	Meeting calendar; weekly, monthly, and other statistical series	RBI
Bank of Canada	Policy decisions, monetary-policy reports, financial statistics	Scheduled decisions and dataset calendars	Bank of Canada
Reserve Bank of Australia	Policy decisions, statements, financial statistics	Meeting calendar and series-specific releases	RBA
Swiss National Bank	Policy assessments, monetary and financial statistics	Policy calendar; statistics vary	SNB
Banco Central do Brasil	Monetary-policy decisions, minutes, statistics	Copom calendar and series-specific releases	BCB
Banco de México	Policy announcements, minutes, financial statistics	Meeting calendar; statistics vary	Banxico
IMF	International economic datasets and outlooks	Dataset-specific; outlook and update calendars vary	IMF
World Bank	Development indicators, country data, research	Dataset-specific; many annual observations	World Bank Data
OECD	Comparable economic indicators and outlooks	Monthly, quarterly, annual, or publication-specific	OECD Data
BIS	Cross-border banking, credit, debt service, exchange-rate statistics	Many quarterly series; others follow separate schedules	BIS Statistics
Eurostat	Harmonized European prices, output, employment, trade	Monthly, quarterly, and annual series	Eurostat
SEC EDGAR	Company and other registrant filings	As filed; periodic and event-driven reports	EDGAR
CFTC	Commitments of Traders positioning reports	Usually Friday for Tuesday positions; holiday exceptions	COT reports
EIA	Energy inventories, production, prices, outlooks	Weekly, monthly, annual, and other report schedules	EIA reports
OPEC	Oil-market analysis and member information	Monthly Oil Market Report; other publications vary	OPEC report

Inflation publishers beyond this directory include Statistics Canada, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Statistics Bureau of Japan, China NBS, India MoSPI, and Brazil IBGE. Central banks do not necessarily produce the headline inflation statistics they discuss.

Informational only, not investment advice.