Egypt’s annual inflation records 5.9% in April, rises 1.6% monthly

CAIRO – 10 May 2020: Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation hiked to 5.9 percent in April 2020, compared to 12.5 percent in April 2019, state-statistics body said Thursday.

In March 2020, Egypt's annual inflation reached 4.6 percent.

On a monthly basis, inflation recorded 107.5 points in April 2020, marking an increase of 1.6 percent compared to March 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 fruits by 13.9 percent, vegetables by 9.5 percent, fish and seafood by 9.1 percent, meat and poultry by 5.5 percent, dairy, cheese and eggs by 0.4 percent, ready-made clothes by 0.5 percent, and outpatient services by 0.9 percent.

It also referred to the decrease in the expenses on private transport by 2.9 percent.

At the urban level, the annual inflation rate for April 2020 rose to 5.9 percent, up from 5.1 percent in March.

The sustainable development plan for 2020/2021 expected the inflation rate to increase to 9.8 percent if the 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.