Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation edged up to 26.5% in October from 26.4% in September, slightly below expected, data from statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Sunday.
On a monthly basis, headline inflation rose by 1.1% in October, unchanged from September.
The median forecast of 17 analysts had been for annual inflation to increase to 27% last month. Still, annual inflation crept upwards for a third straight month.
Food prices also rose by 1.1% compared with 2.6% in September. October food prices were 27.3% higher than they were a year earlier.
Egypt’s core inflation rate, which strips out volatile items such as fuel and some types of food, eased to 24.4% year-on-year in October, from 25% in September, separate central bank data showed.
Inflation has been fuelled largely by an expansion of the money supply. Egypt’s M2 money supply grew by 29.59% year-on-year in September, central bank data showed.