Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation accelerates to 17.7 pct in October

Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation accelerated to 17.7 percent in October from 16.0 percent in September, the official statistics agency CAPMAS said on Saturday.

Egypt has hiked fuel, electricity and transportation prices over the past few months to help meet the terms of a $12 billion IMF loan program it signed in late 2016 that includes deep cuts to energy subsidies and tax hikes.

On a monthly basis, inflation accelerated to 2.6 percent from 2.5 percent in September, but food and beverage inflation eased to 3.5 percent in October compared to 4.8 percent the previous month.

Millions of people in Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, live below the poverty line, struggling to meet basic needs after successive increases in the prices of vegetables, fruit, fuel, and medicine.