CAIRO: Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali said on Sunday that the country had gone through the worst phase of inflation, and lower global food prices would bring the inflation rate down. The worst is behind us in terms of inflation. We are just winding down what was in the system, he told reporters. Look at international commodity prices. Wheat used to be $480 (a ton) and it is now at $250. Corn is the same. Soybean is the same. Edible oils the same. All of this is bound to translate here, he said. Urban inflation rose above market expectations to 23.6 percent in the year to August, a 16-year high. Economists say they expect inflation to drag real economic growth to below 7 percent in the current 2008/09 fiscal year. The minister said 80 percent of inflation stemmed from higher prices for imported goods or for goods of which the government controls the prices. He declined to give a forecast for gross domestic product this year, saying there were too many variables. -Reuters
