The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced that the annual inflation rate in Egypt’s urban areas stabilised at 12.3% in December 2025, unchanged from November.
Month-on-month inflation eased to 0.2% in December, down from 0.3% in the previous month, indicating a continued slowdown in price pressures.
In a statement issued on Saturday, CAPMAS said the consumer price index (CPI) for the country reached 264.2 points in December 2025, recording annual inflation of 10.3%, compared with 23.4% in December 2024.
Food prices lead disinflation
CAPMAS attributed the decline in annual inflation primarily to lower prices across several key expenditure groups. Meat and poultry prices fell by 1.1%, while dairy products, cheese and eggs declined by 1.2%. Fruit prices decreased by 1%, vegetables by 2%, and sugar and sugary foods by 0.1%.
Non-food items also recorded price declines, including household appliances (down 0.5%) and audio-visual, photographic and information-processing equipment (down 0.4%).
Selective price increases persist
At the same time, prices rose modestly in a number of categories. Cereals and bread increased by 0.1%, oils and fats by 0.3%, and coffee, tea and cocoa by 0.1%. Prices of mineral and carbonated water and natural juices rose by 0.1%, while tobacco prices increased by 0.2%.
Other increases were recorded in fabrics (1.6%), ready-made garments (0.4%), footwear (1.6%), housing maintenance and repair (0.5%), and electricity, gas and other fuels (1.6%). Household furnishings rose by 0.6%, glassware and household utensils by 1.0%, outpatient services by 1.0%, and private transport expenditure by 0.4%. Transport services increased by 0.1%, cultural and recreational services by 0.4%, newspapers, books and stationery by 0.1%, organised tourist trips by 1.5%, ready-made meals by 0.9%, and personal care by 0.9%.
CAPMAS noted that monthly inflation for the overall Republic rose by 0.1% in December 2025.
Monetary policy outlook
The inflation data comes after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Egypt cut its key policy rates by 1% at its final meeting of 2025. The decision brought the overnight deposit rate to 20%, the overnight lending rate to 21%, and both the main operation rate and the credit and discount rate to 20.5%.
The MPC said the move reflected its assessment of inflation developments and the outlook since its previous meeting on 20 November. It added that Central Bank forecasts point to a continued decline in inflation during 2026, with rates approaching the official target by the fourth quarter of the year.
However, the committee cautioned that the pace of disinflation may be moderated by the slow easing of non-food inflation and the impact of ongoing fiscal consolidation measures, while global geopolitical tensions continue to pose upside risks.
The MPC reaffirmed its commitment to steering inflation towards its target of 7% ± 2% on average in the fourth quarter of 2026, stating that it would continue to calibrate the pace of monetary easing based on forecasts, risk assessments and incoming data.
The committee is scheduled to hold eight meetings in 2026 to review the outlook for key policy rates. The first meeting will take place on 12 February, followed by meetings on 2 April, 21 May, 9 July, 20 August, 24 September, 29 October, and 17 December.
The Central Bank cut interest rates by a cumulative 7.25% over five meetings in 2025, marking a clear shift from monetary tightening to monetary easing.
