Egypt’s annual inflation reaches 12.2% in January

CAIRO – 10 February 2019: Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation declined to 12.2 percent in January 2019, compared to 17 percent in January 2018, state-statistics body said Sunday, Feb. 10.

In December, Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation recorded 11.1 percent, compared to 22.3 percent in the same month of 2017.

On a monthly basis, inflation increased 0.8 percent in January, recording 298.8 points, compared to 296.5 points in December 2018, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said.

CAPMAS attributed the hike in inflation on a monthly basis to the increase of some commodities' prices as vegetables prices' rose by 3.9 percent, and Cereals and bread by 1.8 percent.

At the urban level, the annual inflation rate for January 2019 reached 12.7 percent, compared to 12 percent in December 2018.

On a month-to-month basis, the urban inflation rate fell after the general consumer price index reached 290.7 points, compared to 296.5 points in December 2018, with a decrease of 0.6 percent.

As per the rural level, the annual inflation rate hit 11.6 percent, compared to 10.2 percent in December, while on the monthly level, the rate recorded 308.5 points, compared to 305.6 points, with an increase of 0.9 percent.

In the period from January to December 2018, the inflation rate hit 14.1 percent.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected Egypt’s inflation to decline to 20.9 percent in 2018, compared to 23.5 percent in 2017, anticipating it to reach 14 percent in 2019 and 7 percent in 2023.

Inflation surged in Egypt since the floatation of the Egyptian pound in November 2016, reaching a high record level in July due to energy subsidy cuts, and gradually easing since July.