The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on Thursday announced that the annual inflation rate in urban areas had reached 10.5 percent due to a 16.5-percent rise in foodstuff prices.
The rate jumped by 0.5 percent last May, when grain and bread prices rose by 2.4 percent; meat and poultry by 18.3 percent; eggs and dairy products by 9.2 percent; cooking oil by 10.7 percent; fruit by 22.9 percent; and vegetables by 38.6 percent.
“And inflation rates are expected to rise further in July and August,” said economy expert Riham el-Dessouqi.
Planning Institute adviser Mahmoud Abdel Hai noted that rising inflation rates stood to affect average family incomes. “The average Egyptian family currently spends 50 percent of its income on food,” he noted.
Economy expert Ahmed Adam, however, questioned the accuracy of the official figures, contending that the inflation rate is in actuality much higher than that being reported.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
