Prices with the highest gains were electricity, gas and other fuels, with subsidies lessened in July, recording a climb of 8.9%
Egypt’s annual headline urban inflation (also known as urban consumer inflation) climbed 5.4% in July, a jump from June which recorded at 4.9%, announced the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
Monthly headline urban CPI inflation recorded 0.9% in July 2021, a large leap from 0.2% in June.
CAPMAS attributed this rise to the increase in the prices of dairy, cheese, and eggs by 2.2%, meat and poultry by 1.2%, vegetables by 1.1%, tobacco products by 1.7%, and personal care products by 1.2%.
Prices with the highest gains were electricity, gas and other fuels, with subsidies lessened in July, recording a climb of 8.9%. Tourist trips followed with a 6.9% increase.
“Minor inflationary pressure remains on the cards. A late-July increase in fuel prices will likely be reflected in August’s headline figure, which may be about 6%, and any rise in bread later in 2021,” Mohamed Abu Basha, Head of Macroeconomic Research at EFG Hermes, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
On the other hand, the prices of the fruit group decreased by 3.4%.
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On annual core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as food, Egypt recorded 4.6% compared to June 2021’s 3.8%, wrote CAPMAS.
“Monthly core CPI inflation, computed by the Central Bank of Egypt, recorded 0.6% in July 2021 compared to negative 0.1% in the same month of the previous year and to 0.1% in June 2021,” the agency wrote in its report.
According to the CBE’s latest report on Egypt’s monetary policy, the “annual headline inflation rate is expected to be affected in the near-term by unfavorable base effects related to the normalization of monthly inflation rates in 2021.”
