Egypt’s annual inflation records 5% in May, rises 0.1% monthly

CAIRO – 10 June 2020: Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation recorded 5 percent in May 2020, compared to 13.2 percent in May 2019, state-statistics body said Wednesday.

In April 2020, Egypt's annual inflation reached 5.9 percent.

On a monthly basis, inflation recorded 107.7 points in May 2020, marking an increase of 0.1 percent compared to April 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 4.7 percent, meat and poultry by 2 percent, cereals and bread by 0.4 percent, spending on private transportation by 1.6 percent, ready-made clothes by 1.3 percent, and hospital services by 0.6 percent.

It also referred to the decrease in vegetables by 4.7 percent, fish and seafood by 1.8 percent, and cheese and eggs by 0.2 percent.

At the urban level, the annual inflation rate for May 2020 declined to 4.7 percent, up from 5.9 percent in April.

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.