Egypt: Inflation slows in April from March
Latest reading: Consumer prices increased 14.9% on a year-on-year basis in April, following a 15.2% rise in the prior month.
Relative to the previous month’s data, price pressures reduced for transportation in April (+29.2% in annual terms vs +39.5% in March). In contrast, there were more notable price pressures for food and non-alcoholic beverages—the largest component in the consumer price index basket (+6.7% vs +5.8% in March) and housing and utilities (+38.5% vs +35.3% in March).
Meanwhile, core consumer prices rose 13.8% on a year-on-year basis in April, following a 14.0% increase in the previous month.
Lastly, consumer prices rose 1.09% in April on a month-on-month basis, following a 3.20% increase in the previous month.
Panelist insight: On the inflation outlook, Goldman Sachs analysts said:
“We continue to see upside risks to Egypt’s inflation outlook, amidst an unfavourable external environment (higher energy prices, broader supply-chain pressures) and domestic inflationary pressures (administered price hikes). The CBE has in the past 18 months adopted a cautious, data-driven reaction function as it pivots towards an inflation-targeting regime and tries to diminish the role of the exchange rate as a nominal anchor of inflation expectations.”