Egypt's annual core inflation declines to 1% in June: CBE

CAIRO – 9 July 2020: The annual core inflation rate reached 1 percent in June, down from 1.5 percent in May last year, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a statement.

The Consumer Price Index in Egypt has recorded a negative monthly rate of 0.3 percent in June, compared to 0.3 percent for the same month last year, the statement added.

Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation recorded 6 percent in June 2020, compared to 8.9 percent in June 2019, state-statistics body said Thursday.  

On a monthly basis, inflation recorded 107.5 points in June 2020, marking decrease of 0.1 percent compared to May 2020, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said.

CAPMAS attributed the decline in inflation to the decrease in prices of some commodities during the month, as Meat and pourtly by 5.6 percent, vegetables by 5.5 percent, fish and seafood by 2.9 percent, dairy, cheese and eggs by 1.9 percent, grain and bread by 0.6 percent, and hotel services by 0.3 percent.

It also referred to the increase in the prices of fruits by 18.8 percent, smoke by 4.2 percent, ready-made clothes by 1.2 percent, outpatient service by 1.8 percent, and personal care by 1 percent.

At the urban level, the annual inflation rate for June 2020 dipped to 5.6 percent, up from 4.7 percent in May.

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 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.