The monthly core inflation inched up to 0.8% in January, up from 0.5% in the corresponding month of 2021 and 0.2% in December
Egypt’s annual urban inflation rose to its highest rate since August 2019 with food prices as main drivers as well as an unfavorable base effect.
In its latest report, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported that annual urban inflation hit 7.3% in January, a steep jump from 5.9% in December.
Driving the headline rate increase were food and beverages prices, which rose at their quickest pace in 32 months, climbing 12.4% year-on-year compared to 8.4% in December, attributed mainly to rising oil, vegetable and meat prices.
The monthly core inflation inched up to 0.8% in January, up from 0.5% in the corresponding month of 2021 and 0.2% in December.
Annual core inflation recorded 6.3%, up from 6% in December, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), also hitting its fastest acceleration since June 2019. Annual core inflation does not calculate volatile items such as food and fuel.
Based on December's inflation figures, the CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to maintain the current interest rates at the December 2020 level in its meeting held on 3 February, the first in 2022.
The MPC kept the overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate, the rate of the main operation, and the discount rate unchanged at 8.25%, 9.25%, 8.75% and 8.75%, respectively.
