CAIRO: Food and housing costs pushed up Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation in December, the official statistics agency CAMPAS said yesterday, dampening expectations of an early interest rate cut.
Annual urban consumer inflation rose to 10.1 percent in December from 9.1 percent the previous month, after falling in November from a peak of 11.8 percent in October “The rise in Egyptian inflation last month, which took it back into double digits, rules out any possibility of an interest rate cut,” Capital Economics said in a note.
Inflation spiked in Egypt after the government slashed energy subsidies in July in an effort to strengthen its finances. The central bank raised interest rates by 100 basis points in July to counter the inflationary impact of the subsidy cuts but has since kept them on hold as inflation steadied and global oil prices tumbled. Reuters
