Egypt’s annual inflation hits 6.7% in August: CAPMAS

CAIRO - 10 September 2019: Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation recorded 6.7 percent in August 2019, compared to 13.6 percent in August 2018, state-statistics body said Tuesday, Sep. 10.

In July, Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation fell to 7.8 percent, down from 13 percent in July 2018.

On a monthly basis, inflation increased 0.7 percent in August, recording 314.8 points, compared to 312.5 points in July, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said.

CAPMAS attributed the hike in inflation on a monthly basis to the increase in prices of some commodities during the month, as vegetables prices rose by about 6.9 percent, dairy, cheese and eggs by 1.9 percent, health care by 1.8 percent, transport and communication by 0.4 percent, and miscellaneous goods and services by 0.9 percent.

It also referred to the decrease in prices of meat and poultry by 2.6 percent.

At the urban level, the annual inflation rate for July 2019 decreased to 7.5 percent, down from 8.7 percent in July.

Earlier, CAPMAS revealed that inflation during January-to-July period of 2019 recorded 11.7 percent, compared to the same period of 2018.

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.

In August, The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) cut the overnight deposit rate, the overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation by 150 basis points on Thursday, August 22. The overnight deposit rate, the overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation are cut to be at 14.25 percent, 15.25 percent, and 14.75 percent, higher than economists’ expectations.

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