Economic expert Mostafa Badra said on Monday that the Egyptian government is not doing enough to confront high inflation at the required pace.
During a telephone interview with Ahmed Moussa’s TV show “Ala Massoulity” (On My Responsibility), Badra explained that the core annual inflation rate rose to 41.0 percent in June 2023, compared to 40.3 percent in May 2023.
The current inflation rate is the product of daily rising prices, he said, in addition to the depreciation of the Egyptian pound.
“Egypt suffers from a scarcity of US dollar because we rely heavily on imported products that need foreign currency… International prices are on the decline plan, but the Russian-Ukrainian war is the reason for the high inflation rates,” He added.
Badra listed various reasons for the rise in inflation:
- External factors such as the Russian-Ukrainian war.
- High interest rates around the world and the borrowing of the state.
- Exit of investments from Egypt and scarcity of foreign currency.
- Exploitation by some merchants to double the profit 200 to 300 percent.
- Decline of Imports since the beginning of the year.
- Seasonal consumption of goods, stimulus packages and subsides.
“The public offering program on stock exchange is witnessing a great slowdown due to the investment law, and the world is 20 years ahead of us,” he said, wondering, “Why don’t we look at the world and see what countries offer? What is the reason for bureaucracy in investment?”
Badra pointed out that there are economically lagging countries such as Turkey that have still seen large investment projects.
The annual consumer price inflation in Egyptian cities rose from 32.7 percent in May to 35.7 percent in June, its highest rate ever, according to data from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on July 10.
