The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) revealed that Egypt's annual inflation rate increased to 5.9% during April 2020 from 5.1% in the prior month.
This was the highest inflation rate since January, due to a rise in prices of food, as demand surged in April ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 1.3%, the highest level since last July, after increasing 0.6% in the preceding month.
CAPMAS added than an increase in the general index of consumer prices was observed during April 2020 to record 107.5 points, registering an increase of 1.6% compared to March, which recorded 105.8 points.
Demand raises inflation in Ramadan
The Agency attributed the reasons for the surge in the monthly inflation to the increase in the prices of fruits by 13.9%, vegetables by 9.5%, meat and poultry by 5.5%.
Moreover, Fish and seafood prices also increased by 9.1% during March, dairy, cheese and eggs by 0.4%, ready-to-wear by 0.5%, and outpatient services by 0.9%.
Meantime, spending on private transport dropped last March by 2.9%, CAPMAS pointed out.
The monthly inflation rate in Egypt increased by 0.6% in March, while it was stable in February at 105.2 points, compared to January, which was 0.8% higher compared to the end of 2019.
Also, statistics showed that the prices of food and beverages increased during April by 4.4%, alcoholic beverages and smoke by 1.1%, clothes and shoes by 0.5%.
Moreover, housing, water, electricity, gas increased by 0.2% due to the increase in the prices of the housing maintenance and repair group by 0.4%.
Whereas, the price of the Transport sector dropped by 1.0% due to the decrease of amount spent on private transportation by 2.9%.
On a monthly basis, the prices of the Health Care Department increased by about 11.5% and the communications sector reported the same prices.
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