Egypt's annual core inflation declines to 0.7% in July: CBE

CAIRO – 10 August 2020: The annual core inflation rate reached 0.7 percent in July, down from 1 percent in June, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a statement.

The Consumer Price Index in Egypt has recorded a negative monthly rate of 0.1 percent in July, compared to negative 0.3 percent for the same month last year, the statement added.

Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation recorded 4.6 percent in July 2020, compared to 7.8 percent in July 2020, state-statistics body said Thursday.  

On a monthly basis, inflation recorded 107.8 points in July 2020, marking an increase of 0.2 percent compared to June 2020, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said. 

CAPMAS attributed the rise in inflation to the increase in prices of some commodities during the month, as electricity, gas and other fuel materials by 11.2 percent, hotel services by 2.7 percent, outpatient services by 1.5 percent, ready meals by 1.2 percent, personal care by 1.1 percent, and hospital service by 0.8 percent.

It also referred to the decrease in the prices of fruits by 3.7 percent, fish and seafood by 2.3 percent, meat and pourtly by 2.2 percent, vegetables by 1.8 percent, dairy, cheese and eggs group by 0.3percent, ready-made clothes by 1.2 percent, and actual rental group for houses by 0.6 percent.

At the urban level, the annual inflation rate for July 2020 dipped to 4.2 percent, down from 5.6 percent in June. 

The sustainable development plan for 2020/2021 expected the inflation rate to increase to 9.8 percent if coronavirus crisis continued until December 2020. 

Inflation remains within the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) target range of 9 percent, plus or minus 3 percentage points, despite the precautionary measures taken aiming to curb the spread of coronavirus that are expected to raise the rate of inflation.