Cairo — Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation rose more than expected to 12.5% in October, ending a four-month downward trend, data from statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Monday.
Egypt’s core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as fuel and some types of food, also rose to 12.1% on an annual basis in October from 11.3% in September, the central bank said later in the day.
The median forecast had been for inflation to rise to 12% in a poll of 14 analysts, some of whom cited an increase in fuel prices and a new law allowing landlords to raise rents. The urban consumer inflation rate rose from 11.7% in September.
Month-on-month, prices rose by 1.8% in October, CAPMAS said. Food and beverage prices rose by an annual 1.5% and by a monthly 1.2%, it said.
The government on October 17 increased the price of a wide range of fuel products by nearly 13%.
A new law letting landlords raise monthly rents took effect in early August, applicable with the first subsequent rent payment. This means the first increases would have been reflected in September inflation figures.
The annual inflation rate has plunged from a record 38% in September 2023, helped by an $8 billion financial support package from the International Monetary Fund in March 2024.
M2 money supply growth, at an annual 22.9% in September, was little changed from August, central bank data showed.
Slowing inflation prompted Egypt’s central bank to cut its overnight lending rate by 100 basis points on October 2, following an August 28 cut of 200 basis points, this year’s third and fourth reductions.
*Tala Ramadan & Nayera Abdallah; Patrick Werr; Editing: Tom Hogue & Susan Fenton – Reuters
