Egypt's inflation rate spikes in June amid price hikes

Egypt's official statistics agency says annual inflation increased to 13.8 percent in June after a new round of austerity measures designed to overhaul the country's economy.

The figure, announced Tuesday by the Central Agency for Mobilization and Statistics, is an increase from 11.4 percent in May.

Inflation peaked last summer, hovering around 30 percent after the government cut fuel and electricity subsidies as part of broader economic reforms to meet demands by the International Monetary Fund for a $12 billion bailout loan.

The measures under President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi caused prices of basic goods to spike, hitting poor and middle-class Egyptians especially hard.