Aswat Masriya: Food prices have jumped in September to reach the biggest monthly increase in five years, EFG Hermes Holdings said in a research paper on Thursday.
The surge was driven by a rise in vegetable prices, the Egypt-based investment bank and market analysis group said.
Egypt’s urban consumer inflation jumped to 9.2 percent in September from 7.9 percent in a record low in August, according to the monthly release by official statistics agency CAPMAS.
The 2.8 increase is the highest monthly increase rate since July 2014 and was attributed to a 19 percent hike in vegetable prices, among other factors.
In the past two months, the price of vegetables rose 26.4 percent, Hermes said.
Inflation rates in Egypt will be impacted by the value added tax that Egypt aims to introduce before yearend, Hermes said. The group projects that inflation will rise by 1.5 to 2.5 percent when the tax is introduced.
