Egypt’s annual core inflation remained unchanged in March at 1.9%, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced on Thursday.
The CBE added that its consumer price index (CPI) inched up to 0.4% in March, compared to 0.2% in February and 0.5% in March 2019.
The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided in its last meeting on 2 April to maintain interest rate, after it had presented a major surprising cut of 300 basis points earlier in March.
The CBE slashed the overnight deposit rate, the overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation to 9.25%, 10.25%, and 9.75%, respectively. In addition, the discount rate was also reduced to 9.75%.
Earlier on Thursday, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) revealed that the annual inflation fell to 4.6% in March, compared to 4.9% in February, and 13.8% in March 2019.
Moreover, the urban CPI inflation in Egypt has declined to 5.1% in March, compared to 5.3% in February, according to CAPMAS.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices inched up 0.6% in March, after being flat in the preceding month.
The agency said that the core consumer prices in Egypt totaled 105.8 points in March, an increase of 0.6% compared to February.
Inflation figures remain within the CBE’s target of 9% (±3%).
