CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation increased to 5.6% in June from 4.7% in May, state statistics agency CAPMAS said on Thursday.
Month-on-month headline inflation stood at 0.1% in June, from 0% in May, the agency said. Core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as food, fell to 1% year-on-year in June from 1.5% in May, the central bank said.
The subdued figure for month-on-month headline inflation reflected an overall decline in prices of volatile food items, Naeem Brokerage said in a note.
Underlying consumption patterns in 2020 have been weak against the backdrop of the new coronavirus outbreak, while the government’s efforts to keep domestic supplies high have contributed to price declines, the note said.
Late last month Egypt lifted a night curfew which had been imposed in late March along with other restrictions on movement in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The government has secured nearly $8 billion in new funding from the International Monetary Fund to help it cope with the impact of the pandemic and implement structural reforms.
“The authorities are committed to maintaining low and stable inflation, preserving exchange rate flexibility, and allowing orderly exchange rate adjustments,” Uma Ramakrishnan, the IMF’s mission chief for Egypt, said in an interview posted on the fund’s website on Thursday.
(Reporting by Aidan Lewis and Hesham Abdul Halek; Editing by Alex Richardson and Elaine Hardcastle)
