Tawfiqiya shopping market in downtown Cairo. Ahram Online
September’s reading is the highest since December 2020.
The hike was driven by a notable increase in the prices of beverages and food commodities by 13.1 percent, prices of culture and entertainment services by 6.5 percent, and prices of healthcare services by 2.4 percent, said CAPMAS.
The headline monthly inflation rate also increased in September by 1.6 percent.
CAPMAS attributed the increase mainly to the rise in the prices of food commodities and beverages by 4.4 percent, healthcare services by 0.5 percent, restaurant and hotel services by 0.6 percent, and culture and entertainment services by 0.2 percent.
The readings of the annual and monthly headline inflation come in the range the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) targets through the fourth quarter of 2022 at seven percent ±2 percent.
The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is scheduled to convene on 28 October to review the key interest rates for the seventh time in 2021.
The MPC reviews key interest rates according to the recent developments of the macroeconomic performance on the global and local levels, with a special focus on the recent inflation figures.
In the last meeting, held on 16 September, the MPC decided to maintain the CBE’s overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation unchanged at 8.25 percent, 9.25 percent, and 8.75 percent, respectively.
The discount rate was also kept unchanged at 8.75 percent.
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