The annual headline urban consumer inflation rate inched up to 32.7 percent in March 2023, up from 31.9 percent in February.

The monthly headline urban consumer price index (CPI) registered 2.7 percent in March, down from 6.5 percent in February, but up from 2.2 percent in the same month a year earlier.

Furthermore, the monthly core CPI amounted to 2.5 percent in March 2023, down from 8.1 percent in February 2023, and up from 3.1 percent in March 2022.

Egypt’s annual headline inflation rate surged to 33.9 percent in March 2023, up from 12.1 percent in March 2022, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) previously reported.

In its last monetary policy meeting, the CBE increased interest rates by two percent (200 bps) in an attempt to control soaring inflation.

Egypt has a commitment with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to tame inflation down to seven percent by FY2024/2025 while expanding the adoption of flexible interest and foreign exchange rate regimes.

The country is currently under the first review for its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) which allows it to receive a total loan of $3 billion over 46 months from the IMF. The fund has yet to announce the review’s results.