DUBAI (Reuters) -Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation jumped to a greater-than-expected 16.8% in May from 13.9% in April, data from the state statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Wednesday.
CAPMAS said it was releasing inflation figures six days earlier than usual, due to the Eid al-Adha holiday that begins on Thursday.
The median forecast of 12 analysts polled by Reuters was for inflation to climb to 14.9%, mainly due to an unfavourable base effect.
Annual inflation has plunged from a record high of 38% in September 2023, helped by an $8 billion financial support package agreed with the IMF in March 2024.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as fuel and some food types, climbed to 13.1% year on year in May from 10.4% in April, the central bank said.
The fall in inflation led the Central Bank of Egypt to cut its overnight lending rate by 225 basis points to 26.0% at its April 17 meeting, and by another 100 basis points on May 22.
(Reporting by Jana Choukeir, Writing by Nayera Abdallah and Patrick Werr; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Ed Osmond)
