Driving the decline in urban inflation was a decrease in annual food inflation which settled at 45% in March, its lowest since December 2022
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) reveals contributing factors to March’s declining inflation rates, primarily pushed by a strong drop in food inflation.
The drop in Egypt’s annual urban inflation, which fell to 33.3% in March 2024 from 35.7% in February, was mainly attributed to “the muted monthly dynamics observed in March 2024, characterized by subdued price increases across the board, along with a favorable base effect”.
Driving the decline was a decrease in annual food inflation which settled at 45% in March, its lowest since December 2022.
The CBE’s note explained that this could signal a gradual easing in food inflation after it peaked at 73.6% in September 2023.
Annual non-food inflation remained steady at 25.7%, only slightly slipping from 26.1% in February.
Annual core inflation dropped to 33.7% in March 2024, declining from 35.1% in the prior month, reflecting a “weaker core food contribution, and comes in line with monthly core inflation recording 1.4% in March 2024”.
Monthly headline inflation fell to 1.0%, its lowest rate since October, after reaching its highest recorded month-on-month hike of 11.4% in February.
Impacting Egypt’s monthly headline inflation were fresh vegetable prices which fell by 4.8%, while fresh fruit prices remained mostly unchanged. Prices for pulses and edible oils dropped by 8% and 1.8%, respectively.
Keeping the inflation rate up were poultry and red meat prices which climbed by 3.3% and 1.0%. Dairy products jumped by 2.2%, while sugar prices surged by 5.1%. Fish and seafood prices climbed by 1.2%.
Other essential food groups, including eggs, market tea, coffee, dried fruits, and bread, experienced price increases.
Service prices climbed by 1.4%, driven by increased spending on restaurants and cafes, outpatient services, private healthcare, rental values, as well as Umrah trips.
Retail items saw a slight incline of 1.5%, contributing 0.2% to the monthly headline inflation, and was primarily pushed by items such as medical products, apparel, household cleaning items, and personal care products.
