EGYPT: Urban headline inflation in Egypt increased to 37.4 percent y/y in August from 36.5 percent in July.
This pace of acceleration is slightly faster than what we had anticipated — we expected inflation to only breach 37 percent in September. However, we still expect a disinflation trend to commence at the beginning of 2024. Food and beverages inflation remains the largest single component of the inflation basket (33 percent) and these price pressures continue to push inflation higher.
Inflation in this category increased to 71.4 percent y/y in August from 68.3 percent in July and 47.9 percent at the start of the calendar year. Although core inflation inched lower to 40.4 percent y/y in August from 40.7 percent in the previous month, inflation on regulated items inched higher to 18.4 percent from 17.5 percent in July. On a month-on-month basis, inflation slowed to 1.6 percent compared with 1.9 percent in July. The monthly inflation note will be published by the Central Bank of Egypt on 15 September 2023.
