Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation was at 4.8 per cent in March 2021, compared to 4.6 per cent in the corresponding month in 2020, this was according to the report by state statistics.
In February, inflation steadied at 4.8 per cent, compared to March in the preceding year.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) stated that every month, inflation was recorded at 110.9 points in March 2021, hitting an increase of 0.6 per cent.
CAPMAS attributed the slight increase in inflation to the hike in prices of some commodities during the month, such as the fruits group which was at 7.1 per cent, meat and poultry group at 3.7 per cent, oil and fats group at 0.9 per cent, cereals and bread at 0.5 per cent, also the increase in milk, white cheese and its likes at 0.5 per cent.
The agency hinted that these figures were recorded despite the decrease in the prices of the readymade clothes group which was at 1.1 per cent and the transportation services group at 0.4 per cent.
The sustainable development plan for 2020/2021 expects the inflation rate to increase to 9.8 per cent if the coronavirus pandemic persists.
Inflation remains within the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) target range of 9 per cent, plus or minus 3 percentage points, despite the precautionary measures aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus that has given rise to the inflation rate.
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided on March 18, to keep the overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation unchanged at 8.25 per cent, 9.25 per cent, and 8.75 per cent, respectively and the discount rate at 8.75 per cent.
Egypt’s 2020/2021 draft budget aims to reduce the public debt of GDP to 82.7 per cent by end of June 2021, from an earlier target of 82.5 per cent by the end of June 2020 and to 77.5 per cent by the end of June 2022.
