Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) has revealed that the annual rate of urban inflation fell to 4.1% in April 2021, compared to 4.5% in the previous month.
On a monthly basis, however, prices in April rose 0.9%, compared to 0.6% in March. The agency clarified, in a statement on Monday, that the consumer price index for the whole of Egypt recorded 112.2 points for April 2021, recording an increase of 1.2% from March 2021.
CAPMAS said the most important reason for this increase was the rise in: vegetable prices by 9.8%; meat and poultry prices by 4.9%; fruit prices by 2.5%; and fish and seafood prices by 1.3%.
The increase was also driven by the increase in garment prices by 1.9%, and transportation prices which rose by 5.2%.
This comes at a time when the annual inflation rate across Egypt was recorded at 4.4% in April 2021, compared to 4.8% in March 2021 and 5.9% in April 2020.
The annual core inflation rate computed by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) recorded 3.3% in April, compared to 3.7% in March. On a monthly basis, the country’s core inflation reached 0.7% in April 2021, compared to 1% in April 2020 and 0.5% in March 2021.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at the CBE recently decided to maintain the rate of deposits and lending for one night, and the rate of the main operation of the CBE at the level of 8.25%, 9.25% and 8.75%, respectively. It also decided to maintain the credit and discount rate at 8.75%.
The MPC noted that the current level of basic return rates at the CBE is appropriate for the present time. It is consistent with achieving the target inflation rate of 7% (± 2%), on average, during the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022 and price stability in the medium term.
It emphasised that it would follow all economic developments and balance risks, and would not hesitate to use all its tools to support the recovery of economic activity, provided that inflationary pressures were contained.
