Egypt’s annual urban consumer inflation rises to 3.6 pct in November

Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation rose to 3.6 percent in November, from 3.1 percent in October, the government statistics agency CAPMAS said on Tuesday.

Annual core inflation rate fell to 2.1 percent year-on-year in November, compared to 2.7 percent in October, according to data released by Egypt's central bank.

The country is emerging from an International Monetary Fund-backed economic reform plan that saw inflation rise to record highs.

Egypt has hiked domestic fuel prices and phased out some subsidies as part of the $12 billion agreement with the fund.

“We think that inflation will rise over the next year or so but, it will remain relatively subdued and is unlikely to go above the mid-point of the central bank’s target on a sustained basis,” Capital Economics said in a research note.

The central bank had set an inflation target of 9 percent by the end of 2020, plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Capital Economics expects the overnight deposit rate – the interest rate at which banks lend or borrow funds with other banks – to be cut to 10 percent by the end of next year and be reduced further to 9.5 percent by the end of 2021.