Consumer prices creep up in December

Egypt’s annual headline consumer price index (CPI) inched up in December to 11.9 percent, the state statistics agency CAPMAS reported.

The figure, which measures the change in consumer prices compared to the same point in the year before, was a slight increase from 11.8 percent in November. 

Monthly inflation, a calculation of the change in consumer prices from the month before, fell by 0.1 percent in December. CAPMAS attributed the decline to lower prices for food items such as fruits, vegetables, eggs and fish. 

But the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), which calculates inflation using slightly different metrics, announced the annual rate of headline inflation remained unchanged in December at 11.06 percent. The CBE calculated monthly headline inflation as declining by 0.09 percent in December, compared to a 0.3 percent decline in November.

The Central Bank also announced that Egypt’s core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, declined in December to 7.23 percent annually, from 7.44 percent in November. Core inflation increased by 0.1 percent in December, compared to an increase of .96 percent in November. 

The CBE plans to release its full inflation report on January 15. 

Persistent double-digit inflation has been a cause for concern for the country's economic authorities. Last month, the CBE raised its benchmark interest rates due to these "inflationary pressures." In doing so, the bank risks cooling economic growth and increasing the cost of debt service for the government, but it judged that inflation carried a greater risk to the economy.

The government has also introduced measures aimed at lowering consumer food prices, including initiatives to provide food at below-market prices at government and military-owned outlets.