Egypt`s economy suffers: High annual inflation rate in December

The Central Statistical Organisation has said that the annual inflation
rate rose in December at the level of 6.8 per cent compared to 2.7 per
cent in November, and to 7.1 per cent against 3.6 per cent in cities and
urban areas.
In contrast, the inflation rate fell last month compared to December of
2018, which amounted to about 11 per cent. It recorded a decrease of 4.3
per cent, while at the levels of the monthly inflation rate, the inflation
rate decreased 0.2 per cent during December compared to November.
Capital Economics said: “Food inflation is the main reason for
increasing inflation rates on an annual basis, as it rose 1.8 per cent year-
on-year, compared to a decrease of 4.5 per cent last November.
Economists and experts said that the high annual inflation rate was
expected, given the disappearance of the impact of the base year, which
was the reason the rates of inflation reduced in the past six months.
It is expected that the reading of inflation rates will play an important
role in the central bank’s decision on interest rates when the Monetary
Policy Committee meets next Thursday, January 16, and it is expected to
reduce the basic interest on the pound by 0.5 per cent and 2.25 per cent
during 2020.