Egypt: Inflation jumps in December
Consumer prices decreased 0.2% in December in month-on-month terms, after decreasing 0.3% in November. Core consumer prices, which do not include volatile prices such as food prices, increased 0.2% in December compared to the previous month, contrasting November’s 0.1% decrease.
Inflation accelerated to 7.1% in December from 3.6% in November, partly reflecting a low base effect and in line with the Central Bank of Egypt’s expectations. This reading represented a four-month high and resulted in inflation coming back within the Central Bank’s Q4 CY 2020 target range of 6.0% to 12.0%.
Core inflation, meanwhile, accelerated to 2.4% in December from 2.1% in November. Annual average inflation decelerated to 9.2% in December from 9.6% in November.