Egypt’s inflation hits 25.8% in January – CAPMAS

Egypt’s annual urban inflation rate spiked to 25.8 percent in January from 21.3 percent in the previous month, the highest in more than five years, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) showed on Thursday.

The figures significantly surpass the target set by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) at seven percent (±2 percent) through the end of the year.

Egypt’s inflation figures follow a series of currency devaluations starting in March last year that stripped the Egyptian pound of nearly 50 percent of its value.

CAPMAS attributed the spike mainly due to the increase in the prices of food and beverages, restaurants and hotels, culture and entertainment commodities and other services by 48.1 percent, 42.8 percent, 30.6 percent, and 21.9 percent, respectively.