Egypt’s annual inflation rose to 21.9% in Dec 2022

Cairo: Egypt’s annual headline inflation rose to 21.9 per cent in December 2022, up from 6.5 per cent in the same month the previous year, the country’s official statistics agency reported.

The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) said in a statement that the monthly inflation rose by 2.1 pe rcent, hitting 19.2 per cent in November 2022, reports Xinhua news agency.

“The increase in prices of basic commodities was behind the rise in the monthly inflation rate,” CAPMAS said.

It said the prices of food rose by 4 per cent annually in the last month of 2022, with outstanding increases in sub-categories such as fruits, dairy products and grains.

According to Rashad Mohamed, an economic expert at Cairo University, the rise of inflation in December was expected due to the devaluation of the local currency and is predicted to further increase in January.

The Egyptian pound on Tuesday recorded 27.6 against the US dollar compared to 15.7 in March 2022 after it had been devaluated more than once by the Central Bank of Egypt.

He also attributed the rise in monthly inflation to external factors such as an increase in import values caused by growing inflation in the country’s major trading partners, particularly the European Union countries.

Given the Egyptians spend 40 per cent of their income on food commodities, Mohamed said the inflation will negatively impact people’s daily life.