Egypt’s annual inflation fell to 22.3% in December 2017, which is the lowest level on record since November 2016 which registered 20.2%, while monthly inflation registered -0.2% in December, its lowest rate since November 2015, according to a report published on Wednesday by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS).
“Inflation is expected to fall below 20% next month, and to reach 10-12% during 2018, and less than 10% starting 2019,” said Egypt’s Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy on Wednesday.
On the other hand, Mohamed Abu Basha, an economist at Cairo-based investment bank EFG-Hermes commented that, inflation rate is on a declining path, and that the bank forecasts inflation to reach between 13-14% in mid-2018.
However, Abu Basha believes that inflation at the end of 2018 will depend on the amount of fuel and electricity subsidy cuts, if the figures were as previously announced, EFG Hermes believes that inflation would reach 12-13% by the end of 2018.
Moreover, urban inflation rate registered 21.9% in December 2017, down from 26% in November 2017, according to CAPMAS.
The witnessed decrease in food and beverage prices, was the main driver behind curbing annual prices. Annual food and beverage prices rose by 25.2% in December 2017, compared to 32.3% in November 2017.
CAPMAS report stated that meat and poultry prices rose, on an annual basis, by 22.7%, while the prices of fresh and frozen meat increased by 31.5%, and poultry increased by 6.5%.
Egypt’s inflation rates have sky-rocketed since the currency floatation that took place in November 2016, reaching a record high of 35% in July 2017, following that second wave of energy subsidy cuts, and has been gradually decreasing since then.
