Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s annual core inflation decreased to 10.9% in June, from 11.09% in May, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said on Tuesday.
The North African nation’s monthly core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as food, reached 1.6% last month, compared to 1.5% in May, the CBE added.
On 15 June, the petroleum ministry announced that the cabinet had approved fuel price hikes as of the following day, which marked the second day of Eid al-Fitr.
On a related note, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) stated earlier on Tuesday that Egypt’s annual urban inflation dropped to 13.8% year-on-year in June.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the CBE kept the benchmark interest rates unchanged on 28 June, on the back of inflationary concerns after fuel and electricity price rises.
The central bank said the Monetary Policy Committee had decided to keep its deposit and lending rates at 16.75% and 17.75% respectively.
Capital Economics forecast previously that the nation’s inflation would tumble to 8% in fiscal year 2019/2020.
