Inflation hits 16-year high on food prices

Cairo: Rising food prices drove urban inflation in Egypt to 22 per cent in the year to July, the highest since January 1992, from 20.2 per cent in the year to June, the official statistics agency Capmas said yesterday.

Monthly inflation rose 2.2 per cent, compared to 0.6 per cent in June, Capmas said on its website.

Prices in the country as a whole, an indicator released every two months, rose 23.1 per cent in the year to July, from 21.1 per cent in the year to May.

In the countryside, inflation rose to 24.3 per cent in the year to July, from 22.9 per cent two months earlier. The Egyptian central bank raised its key interest rates by 50 basis points on Thursday to tame inflation.