Business

Egypt consumer inflation rises to 11.8 pct in October

Egypt's annual urban consumer inflation quickened to 11.8 percent in October from 11.1 percent in September, the official statistics agency CAPMAS said on Monday.

Inflation fell in September after a rise this summer triggered by the government's introduction of fuel price increases.

Annual inflation reached its highest rate in nearly four years a year ago, then began falling until the fuel price hikes in July.

Mohamed Abu Basha, an economist at EFG-Hermes, said he had predicted a smaller increase.

"It came above expectations and that's solely due to the jump in the category of education", he said, noting that the back-to-school period usually spurs a price hike but not the 25 percent registered by CAPMAS for October.

He said other items across the consumer basket saw mild increases, such as 0.9 percent month-on-month for food prices.

The Arab world's most populous country has been trying to repair an economy battered by political upheaval, street protests and militant violence since a popular uprising toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government has started implementing politically sensitive economic reforms such as slashing energy subsidies in a bid to narrow the budget deficit and gain the confidence of foreign investors.

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