Egypt’s annual inflation declines 8.9% in June

CAIRO – 10 July 2019: Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation rose to 8.9 percent in June 2019, compared to 13.8 percent in June 2018, state-statistics body said Wednesday, July 10.

In April, Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation rose to 13.2 percent.

On a monthly basis, inflation declined 1 percent in June, recording 307.8 points, compared to 311.1 points in May, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said.

CAPMAS attributed the drop in inflation on a monthly basis to the decrease of food and drinks commodities prices, as vegetables prices' dipped by 10 percent; meat and chicken by 1.2 percent; and dairy, cheese and eggs by 0.6 percent.

On the other hand, some commodities’ prices showed an increase, as: fish and seafood by 1.9 percent; fruits by 9.7 percent; organized tours by 11.4 percent; and ready-meals by 0.9 percent.

At the urban level, the annual inflation rate for June 2019 reached 9.4 percent, up from 14.1 percent in May.

Unlike the expected hike of inflation during June due to witnessing an inflationary season, started with Ramadan, and including Islamic feasts and the beginning of the new fiscal year with subsidy cuts, with expected hike in inflation during May and June, rates registered a decline during June.

In the period from January to December 2018, the inflation rate hit 14.1 percent.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected Egypt’s inflation to decline to 20.9 percent in 2018, compared to 23.5 percent in 2017, anticipating it to reach 14 percent in 2019 and 7 percent in 2023.

Inflation surged in Egypt since the floatation of the Egyptian pound in November 2016, reaching a high record level in July due to energy subsidy cuts, and gradually easing since July.

Egypt targets an inflation rate of 10.9 percent in fiscal year of 2019/2020 and was targeting 13 percent in 2018/2019 budget.