Food market- Photo courtesy of IFAD Facebook page
CAIRO - 10 November 2022: Egypt’s annual urban inflation rate rose to the highest level in five years during November 2022, driven by the rise in food prices and the continued pressures resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced Thursday that the annual urban inflation rate surged in November to 18.7 percent, compared to 16.2 percent in October.
This is the highest level of inflation recorded in Egypt since December 2017, when it recorded 21.9 percent, a month after the Central Bank of Egypt, led by its former president Tarek Amer, liberalized the exchange rate of the pound in November 2017.
According to the state-statistic body’s data, the annual inflation rate rose to 19.2 percent in November 2022, compared to 6.2 percent in the same month of prior year.
Egypt is witnessing an inflationary wave that has been accelerating almost every month since the beginning of this year, as a result of the high costs of importing energy and food, due to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, and the Corona epidemic crisis.
Egypt reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in November, worth $3 billion. It also devalued its currency twice, in March and late October, after an exit wave of hot money on the successor to the Ukraine crisis and the US interest rate hike on the dollar.
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) stated earlier that the inflation is higher than the expected average rate of 7 percent (±2 percentage points) in the fourth quarter of 2022, announcing that the new inflation rate targets will be announced soon.
On a monthly basis, inflation recorded 140.7 points in November 2022, recording a 2.5 percent increase compared to October 2022, the CAPMAS said.
CAPMAS attributed the increase in inflation to the rise in the prices of the cereals and bread group by 4.8 percent, the meat and pourtly group by 6.8 percent, the fish and seafood group by 3.7 percent, the dairy, cheese and eggs group by 5.5 percent, the oils and fats group by 1.4 percent, the vegetables group by 7.8 percent, the smoke group by 0.3 percent, and the ready-made garment group by 2.1 percent.
In addition to the increase in the shoes group by 1.3 percent, the home furnishings group by 2.6 percent, the home appliances group by 3.1 percent, the outpatient services group by 1.8 percent, and the vehicle purchase group by 2.4 percent.
Furthermore, the Newspapers, books and stationery group hiked by 0.8 percent, the group of organized tourist trips rose by 1.2 percent, the group of ready meals increased by 2.2 percent, the group of hotel services jumped by 0.4 percent, the group of personal care climbed by 1.9 percent, and the group of personal effects surged by 5.1 percent.
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