Egypt's urban consumer inflation surged in November to reach 11.1 percent compared to 9.7 percent in October, said the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on Thursday.
This is the third consecutive increase in urban consumer inflation after it dropped in August, recording its lowest level at 7.9 percent since October 2013.
On a monthly basis, the urban inflation rate fell slightly by 0.3 percent while prices of food and beverages retreated by 1.7 percent.
In early November, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi promised a drop in the price of basic commodities by the end of the month.
In an educational seminar for the Armed Forces where he addressed the economic and security issues facing Egypt, Sisi said that “the armed forces and the state” will work on providing goods at lower prices.
The government said in November that it will control the prices of the ten basic food commodities which include meat, poultry, fish, oil, sugar, rice, beans, corn, soybean, and wheat.
An inflationary wave is expected to take place over the current fiscal year amid expectation of further depreciation of the Egyptian pound against the dollar, the application of the Value-Added Tax (VAT) and the restructuring of the energy subsidy plan.
The Egyptian government has projected an inflation rate between 10-11 percent in the fiscal year 2015/2016, forecasting a drop to 7-8 percent by 2018/2019.
Egypt’s economy has been struggling amid political upheaval and instability over the past five years, which saw the toppling of two presidents and the appointment and reshuffling of seven cabinets.
