Egypt’s headline inflation jumps to 16.2% in October

Egypt’s headline inflation jumps to 16.2% in October

A woman holding her baby shops at a vegetable market in Cairo. — Reuters

By Reuters Published: Thu 10 Nov 2022, 7:02 PM

Egypt’s annual urban consumer inflation accelerated faster than expected in October, climbing to a four-year high of 16.2 per cent, data from the statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Thursday.

Year-on-year inflation increased to its highest since October 2018, when it hit 17.68 per cent, from 15 per cent in September.

The median forecast in a Reuters poll of 12 economists had expected inflation of only 15.6 per cent. Five economists also forecast that core inflation, due out later on Thursday, would come in at a median 18 per cent.

The increase reflected a sharp jump in month-on-month inflation, with prices rising 2.6 per cent in October compared to 1.6 per cent in September, Naeem Brokerage said in a note.

The increase was “driven mainly by higher food prices, school tuition fees, and, a noticeable jump in the recreation & culture index”, Naeem wrote.

The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, after raising interest rates by two percentage points at a special meeting on Oct. 27, said it expected elevated global and domestic prices to keep headline inflation above its target of between five per cent