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Egypt’s headline inflation jumps to 16.2% in October

Egypt’s annual urban consumer inflation accelerated faster than expected in October, climbing to a four-year high of 16.2 per cent, data from the statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Thursday.

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Year-on-year inflation increased to its highest since October 2018, when it hit 17.68 per cent, from 15 per cent in September.

The median forecast in a Reuters poll of 12 economists had expected inflation of only 15.6 per cent. Five economists also forecast that core inflation, due out later on Thursday, would come in at a median 18 per cent.

The increase reflected a sharp jump in month-on-month inflation, with prices rising 2.6 per cent in October compared to 1.6 per cent in September, Naeem Brokerage said in a note.

The increase was “driven mainly by higher food prices, school tuition fees, and, a noticeable jump in the recreation & culture index”, Naeem wrote.

The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, after raising interest rates by two percentage points at a special meeting on Oct. 27, said it expected elevated global and domestic prices to keep headline inflation above its target of between five per cent and nine per cent in the final quarter of 2022. The committee next meets on December 22. — Reuters