The Central Bank of Egypt said the country’s core inflation rate rose to 31.24% in January from 24.4% in December.

Bank data showed that the Consumer Price Index recorded a monthly rate of 6.3% last January, compared to 0.8% in the same month the previous year.

On Thursday, Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics said that the country’s consumer price inflation continued to rise, reaching a higher-than-expected rate of 25.8%. Cereals and bread prices rose by 6.6%, meat and poultry by 20.6%, fish and seafood by 9.4%, milk, cheese and eggs by 10.3%, oils by 7.8%, and fruits by 3.8%, according to CAPMAS.

On Monday, Reuters predicted that Egypt’s core inflation rate would continue to rise after it hit a five-year high. At the same time, the devaluation of the local currency continues to cast a shadow over the country. Rising inflation would pressure the Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee to raise interest rates at its next meeting in February. In October, the Central Bank of Egypt devalued the Egyptian pound by approximately 14.5%, allowing it to continue to decline gradually and slowly in November and December.

The International Monetary Fund agreed in December to lend Egypt three billion dollars over 46 months if it adheres to several conditions, including the devaluation of the local currency. Since the beginning of last year, Egypt has been facing a severe crisis in terms of hard currency, which caused the rise of the US dollar against the Egyptian pound by more than 75% in less than ten months.