CBE reveals reasons for high inflation in Egypt

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) revealed that the annual general inflation rate rose to 25.8% in January 2023 compared to 21.3% in December 2022.

It attributed this rise to the continuation of supply chain disruptions and fluctuations in the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound since March 2022, in addition to other inflationary pressures on the demand side.

CBE pointed out that the annual rate of general inflation in January 2023 was mainly affected by the increase in the prices of food commodities and supported by the increase in the prices of non-food commodities. The annual inflation rate of food and non-food items continued their upward trend, recording 47.9% and 16.0%, respectively.

According to the CBE, general inflation recorded a monthly rate of 4.7% in January 2023, compared to a rate of 0.9%, year-on-year. This is mainly due to a wide-ranging rise in the prices of basic food commodities by 3.5%, in addition to the contribution of non-food commodities, which reflected a rise in the prices of both services and consumer goods.

CBE said that in light of the aforementioned increase in annual contributions on a large scale, the annual core inflation rate “continued its upward trend, which began more than a year ago, to record a rate of 31.2% in January 2022, compared to 24.4% in December 2022,

The monthly core inflation rate recorded 6.3% in January 2023, compared to 0.8%, year-on-year, which is the highest monthly core inflation rate historically.

The annual general inflation rate rose to 26.5% in January 2023, compared to 21.9% in December 2022, While the annual general rural inflation rate rose to 27.2% in January 2023, compared to 22.5% in December 2022.