Egypt inflation higher in Oct

CAIRO, Nov 10, (RTRS): Egypt’s urban consumer inflation and core inflation both jumped on rising food prices in October, underscoring the challenge the country faces in keeping costs in check amid a dollar shortage that has weighed on imports.

Annual urban consumer inflation increased to 9.7 percent from 9.2 percent in September, the official statistics agency, CAPMAS, said on Tuesday.

“The further rise ...was driven almost entirely by an increase in the food compo- nent, which is highly volatile,” said a research note from Capital Economics.

Core annual inflation, which excludes items such as fruit and vegetables, increased to 6.26 percent from 5.55 percent, the central bank said on Tuesday.

Egypt said last week that it would import a wider range of essential items as part of its push to keep food prices down, but traders have questioned the logic of expanding imports at a time when dollars are scarce.