Egypt’s annual inflation up 33.7% in May – statistics

Egypt’s annual headline inflation rose to 33.7 per cent in May, up from 15.3 per cent in the same period of 2022, the country’s official statistics agency reported on Saturday.

Urban inflation increased by 2.7 per cent in May, month-on-month.

This is among the highest records, said a report by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS).

A rise in food prices mainly drove the high inflation in May, which grew by 58.9 per cent year-on-year.

Healthcare costs also increased by 18 per cent year-on-year, while hotel and restaurant prices, rose by 48.8 per cent compared to the same period last year, the report explained.

Also on Saturday, Egypt’s Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade launched a national project.

The project is for establishing strategic warehouses of food commodities in the northeastern Suez Canal city.

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President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi had instructed the ministry to secure strategic storage of basic commodities.

This is in view of global supply chain constraints and dollar shortage in Egypt.

Egypt’s surging inflation rate is attributed to a recurrent devaluation of currency since March 2022, fueling foreign currency shortage and delays in receiving imports.

In December 2022, Egypt secured a three-billion-dollar financial support package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

IMF required a follow-up review from the financing body for the liberation of local currency. (Xinhua)