Egypt's annual inflation rate rose to 11.8% in March, from 10.7% registered in February, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced Thursday. The rise in food commodities' and beverage products' prices, including vegetables, fruits, meats, dairies and seafood, by 9.3%, were the reason behind the 1.7% increase, according to CAPMAS. The Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) data shows that core inflation also increased to reach 7.21% in March, compared to 7.15% in February. By reaching this rate, annual inflation comes to match the 11.8% rate of October 2014, during which the hike was attributed to the governmental step to cut energy subsidies in July, thus leading to an increase in the prices of certain goods. November however witnessed a significant decrease to reach 8.5%; whereby in late November the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission issued a statement that interest rate actions adopted by the CBE after the July price increases have helped anchor inflation expectations. Inflation rates however failed to stabilise, as in December it jumped to 9.8%, followed by a slight decrease in January 2015 to reach 9.7%, rising again in February reaching 10.7%.
