Egypt’s annual urban inflation increased to 35.7% in June 2023, compared to 32.7% in May, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
The agency said, in a statement Monday, that the annual inflation for the whole country rose to 36.8% in June 2023, compared to 33.7% in May 2023 and 14.7% in June 2022.
It pointed out that the general index of consumer prices for the whole country reached 177.6 points in June 2023, registering an increase of 2% from the previous year.
The agency attributed the most important reasons for this rise to the increase in the prices of the meat and poultry group by 3.3%, the fish and seafood group by 2.9%, the dairy, cheese and eggs group by 0.4%, the oils and fats group by 0.2%, the fruit group by 5.7%, and the sugar and sugary foods group by 0.2%, coffee, tea and cocoa group 4.4%, mineral and carbonated water and natural juices group 3.3%, smoke group 18.4%.
The prices of the textile group increased by 2.1%, the ready-made clothing group by 2.1%, the cleaning, repair and rental of clothes group by 2.1%, the shoes group by 1.4%, the shoe repair group by 1.2%, the actual rental group by 0.6%, the maintenance and repair of home group With a rate of 2.0%, the group of household appliances by 4.9%, the group of glassware, cutlery and household items by 2.9%, the group of purchasing vehicles by 1.6%, the group of transportation services by 0.5%.
Moreover, the monthly core inflation, computed by the Central Bank of Egypt, recorded 1.7% in June 2023 compared to 1.2% in the same month of the previous year, and 2.9% in May 2023. Accordingly, the annual core inflation rate recorded 41% in June 2023, compared to 40.3% in May 2023.
The Central Bank of Egypt targets an inflation rate of 7% (±2%) on average during the fourth quarter of 2024 and 5% (±2%) on average during the fourth quarter of 2026.
Last June, the Central Bank affirmed that it would continue to follow economic developments and expectations in the next stage, and would not hesitate to use all available monetary policy tools, including liquidity management operations, with the aim of maintaining restrictive monetary conditions, and to achieve target inflation rates.
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank had decided, in its meeting held on 22 June to fix the basic return rates at the Central Bank at 18.25% for deposits, 19.25% for lending, and 18.75% for the credit and discount rate and the price of the main operation at the Central Bank, for the second time in a row.
In its statement accompanying this decision, the committee stated that global commodity price expectations continued to decline compared to the expectations that were presented to it during its previous meetings, pointing out that despite the contribution of restrictive monetary policy and low global energy prices in reducing global inflationary pressures, inflation levels remain above target levels in major economies.
The committee explained that the increase in the annual rate of general and basic inflation locally is due to the rise in the prices of food commodities mainly and the prices of non-food commodities as well.
It affirmed that she will continue to evaluate the impact of the restrictive monetary policy that was taken and its impact on the economy according to the data received during the coming period, pointing out that the path of the basic interest rates at the Central Bank depends on the expected inflation rates and not the prevailing inflation rates.
