Egypt’s annual headline inflation rate hit 15.3% in September 2022, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

Egypt’s urban consumer inflation numbers increased to 15% last month year-on-year, up from 14.6% in August, accelerating to its highest recording since November 2018, in which it recorded 15.7%.

This was mainly attributed to rising food and beverage prices, as well as housing and utilities costs.

According to CAPMAS, food and beverage prices soared by 21.5%, clothing was up by 12.8%, while the costs of water, electricity, gas, and fuel increased by 6.5%.

The rise in the monthly inflation rate was attributed to the increases in the prices of food and beverages by 2.1%, vegetables by 6.2%, dairy, cheese and eggs by 4.4%, and meat and poultry by 1.8%.

The Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee targets rate between 5-9%, however stated in June that it expected inflation to exceed the target in the fourth quarter before subsequently declining.