CAIRO: Inflation soared to 21.1 percent in Egypt in May, its highest level in 10 years, official statistics carried by the state MENA news agency said on Tuesday.
The head of the CAPMAS statistics agency, Abu Bakr Al-Guendi, said the increase was mainly due to the increased cost of food staples such as bread.
Official inflation figures are released every two months, with the previous figure for March at 15.8 percent.
Year-on-year inflation in urban areas was 19.7 percent for May and 22.9 percent in rural areas, Guendi said. Urban inflation stood at 16.4 percent in April.
Egypt s inflation seemed under control until the start of the year, but by March had surged to 15.8 percent year on year on the back of skyrocketing food prices.
The rising cost of foodstuffs on the world market, particularly for wheat, of which Egypt is a major importer, has plunged the government into crisis.
Spending by the average Egyptian family has risen by 50 percent since the start of the year, according to the UN World Food Program.
Around 44 percent of Egypt s 76 million inhabitants live at or below the poverty level of $2 a day.
Last month, the government voted to raise the cost of fuel and tobacco by between 30 and 50 percent, in order to finance a May 1 decision by President Hosni Mubarak to raise public workers salaries by 30 percent.
On Saturday, several hundred people protested the government s move to end distribution of subsidised flour in the Mediterranean coastal town of Burg El-Borollos, leading to 72 arrests.
Three people died in riots in April in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla during protests over price hikes and low wages. -AFP
