Egypt's annual core inflation hits to 3.8% in December: CBE

CAIRO – 10 January 2021: The annual core inflation rate reached 3.8 percent in December, down from 4 percent in November, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a statement.

The Consumer Price Index in Egypt has recorded a monthly rate of 0 percent in December, compared to negative 0.2 percent for the same month last year, and to 0 percent in November, the statement added.

Core inflation discounts or strips out certain categories that are considered more volatile.

On a monthly basis, inflation recorded 110.6 points in December 2020, marking a decrease of 0.5 percent compared to November 2020, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said. 

In December 2020, inflation hit 6 percent, compared to 6.8 percent in the same month of prior year.

CAPMAS attributed the dip in inflation to the decrease in prices of some commodities during the month, as the  vegetables group by 10.1 percent, the fish and seafood group by 0.6 percent, the meat and pourtly group by 0.2 percent, the milk, cheese and eggs by 0.1 percent, and the ready-made clothes by 0.6 percent

The agency pointed out that this came despite the increase in the prices of the fruit group by 3.8 percent, the oils and fats group by 0.5 percent, grains and bread by 0.2 percent, transportation services by 0.7 percent, and the calculated rent for housing by 0.1 percent.

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.