Headline Inflation Declines in Egypt

Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation rate dropped to 35.8 % in October from a record high of 38 % in September, data from the country’s statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Saturday, coming in lower than analysts had expected. The median forecast of 19 analysts polled by Reuters had shown inflation slipping to 37.1 %. Month on month, price rises slowed to 1 % in October from 2 % in September.

Inflation had accelerated every month since June, when it reached 35.7 %, topping the previous high of 32.95 % in July 2017. Food and beverage prices rose by 1.5 % month on month and an annual 71.3 %, CAPMAS said. Meanwhile, Egypt’s central bank said on Monday it sold $1.6 billion in one-year dollar-denominated Treasury bills with an average yield of 4.6 %. The auction will be settled on Tuesday.