The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced that its core inflation rate, which excludes volatile items such as food and energy, decreased to 39.7% in September 2023, down from 40.4% in August 2023. This is the third consecutive month that the core inflation rate has slowed down.
According to a statement by the CBE, the headline urban inflation, which measures the change in the prices of all goods and services in urban areas, increased to 38.0% in September 2023, up from 37.4% in August 2023. The main driver of the headline inflation was the food inflation, which reached 73.6% in September 2023, reflecting the impact of adverse weather conditions on crop yields and prices.
On the other hand, the non-food inflation, which measures the change in the prices of all goods and services excluding food, witnessed a slowdown for the first time since October 2021, to record 20.6% in September 2023. The non-food inflation was affected by price increases of tobacco, clothing, stationery, school supplies, household cleaning products, rental values, and expenditures on restaurants and cafes, among other items.
The CBE also reported that the rural annual inflation increased to 42.6% in September 2023, from 41.9% in August 2023. Additionally, the nationwide annual inflation increased to 40.3% in September 2023, from 39.7% in August 2023.
The CBE statement provided a detailed breakdown of the price changes of various items that contributed to the monthly headline and core inflation rates. Some of the notable changes are:
Prices of fresh fruits and vegetables increased by 5.5% and 22.3%, respectively, contributing by 1.07% to monthly headline inflation.
Prices of dairy products increased by 4.6%, contributing by 0.20% to monthly headline inflation.
Prices of eggs and poultry increased by 7.5% and 0.7%, respectively, contributing by 0.17% to monthly headline inflation.
Prices of red meat declined by 0.9%, contributing by negative 0.06% to monthly headline inflation.
Prices of market rice declined by 5.4%, contributing by negative 0.09% to monthly headline inflation.
Prices of other core food items increased by 0.18% to monthly headline inflation.
Prices of retail items increased by 1.5%, contributing by 0.20% to monthly headline inflation.
Prices of services increased by 0.7%, contributing by 0.20% to monthly headline inflation.
Prices of regulated items increased by 0.5%, contributing by 0.09% to monthly headline inflation.
