Egypt's annual inflation records 8% during January, urban inflation hikes to 7.3%

CAIRO – 10 February 2022: Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation recorded 8 percent in January 2022, compared to 4.8 percent in December 2021, state-statistics body said Thursday.

In November, Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation recorded 6.5 percent.

Annual urban consumer price inflation hiked to 7.3 percent in January, on an annual basis, from 5.9 percent in December, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said.

On a monthly basis, inflation recorded 119.1 points in January 2022,  recording a 1 percent increase compared to December 2021.

CAPMAS attributed the increase in inflation to the increase in the prices of sugar and sugary foods group by 14.7 percent, the vegetables group by 4.3 percent, the dairy, cheese and eggs group by 2.5 percent, the meat and pourtly group by 2.3 percent, the cereals and bread group by 2.0 percent, the group of oils and fats by 0.5 percent, and the calculated rent group for the dwelling by 0.5 percent.

This is in addition to an increase in the group of electricity, gas and other fuel materials by 0.2 percent, the group of goods and services used in home maintenance by 0.6 percent, the group of outpatient services by 1.1 percent, hospital services group by 0.5 percent, medical products, devices and equipment group by 0.1 percent, and ready meals group by 0.8 percent.

The statement indicated that this increase was despite the decrease in the prices of the fruit group by 0.2 percent, the group of transport services by 0.3 percent.

The Central Bank of Egypt aims to achieve an inflation rate of 7 percent (±2) percentage points   on average during the fourth quarter of 2022.