Egypt's headline inflation quickens to 4.5% in February
CAIRO - Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation accelerated to 4.5% in February from 4.3% in January, the official statistics agency CAPMAS said on Wednesday.
The increase comes after the headline indicator had fallen for two consecutive months. It fell in January from 5.4% in December and 5.7% in November 2020.
Month on month, urban inflation rose 0.2% last month, the agency said.
According to CAPMAS data, the year-on-year rise could be attributed to an increase in the costs of education, electricity and cooking gas, tobacco products, and other goods.
The overall acceleration came despite a 0.5% year-on-year drop in food and beverage prices, driven by the prices of potatoes, tomatoes, and fish, it said.
Egypt's central bank set an inflation target of 5%-9% in December, and kept its key interest rates on hold at its last monetary policy meeting on Feb. 4.
