The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said that Egypt's annual core inflation softened to 8.9% in March, down from 9.2% in February 2019. While, the monthly core CPI inflation, computed by the CBE, recorded 0.5% in March 2019, compared to 1% in February 2019. Core inflation is the change in the costs of goods and services but does not include those from the food and energy sectors. This measure of inflation excludes these items because their prices are much more volatile. On the other hand, the Consumer Price Index issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said that the annual inflation rate for March declined slightly to 13.8%, compared to 13.9% year-over-year, while monthly inflation increased to 0.9% in March, compared to 1.8% in February. Egypt's inflation rates have sky-rocketed since the currency floatation that took place in November 2016, reaching a record high of 35% in July 2017, following the second wave of energy subsidy cuts, and has been gradually decreasing since then.
