Egypt Daily News – The annual consumer inflation rate in Egypt dropped to 12.5% in February, according to official figures released on Monday, as Egypt emerges from its worst economic crisis ever.
While inflation has been gradually declining in Egypt for months, experts attribute the sharp drop from 23.2% in January—according to the government statistics agency—largely to the base-year effect.
Economic and capital market expert Wael Al-Nahas told AFP, “Inflation appears lower because we are comparing it to the significant price increases that occurred last year,” when inflation reached 36%.
The state-run Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics reported that the monthly consumer inflation rate fell to 1.4% in February, slightly lower than the 1.6% recorded in January.
Early last year, a severe shortage of foreign currency created a parallel market crisis in Egypt’s import-dependent economy, with consumer goods prices rising daily in major cities.
Following its latest currency devaluation in March 2024, Cairo appears to be emerging from the crisis through a more than $50 billion rescue plan, including loans and investment deals from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the United Arab Emirates.
Since February 2022, the Egyptian pound has lost over 60% of its value, while inflation peaked at around 40% in August 2023.
Authorities have implemented several reforms in compliance with an IMF agreement, which increased Egypt’s loan from $3 billion to $8 billion. These reforms included three fuel price hikes last year.
The IMF’s executive board is set to conduct its fourth review of the program later on Monday, with plans to approve a $1.2 billion disbursement.
Last month, the Washington-based lender announced it would also unveil a new loan project, which analysts estimate to be worth over $1 billion.
