Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation climbed to 5.7% in August, rising from 5.4% in July, announced the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on Thursday, hitting its highest rate since November and marking a 17-month high.

Annual headline (consumer price) inflation recorded 6.4% in August, compared to 6.1% in July and 3.6 in August 2020.

The annual core inflation rate, excluding volatile items such as food, decreased to 4.5% from 4.6% in July, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a statement Thursday.

The consumer price index (CPI) amounted to 114.3 points in August 2021, a decrease of 0.1% from July 2021, CAPMAS revealed on Thursday.

CAPMAS attributed the decrease in inflation to the decline in the prices of the meat and pourtly group by 4.3%, the fish and seafood group by 0.8%, and the ready-made clothing group by 0.2%.

It also referred to the increase in the group of the vegetables group by 4.7%, the fruit group by 1.3%, dairy, cheese and eggs group by 0.3), the group of purchasing vehicles by 1.9%, the group of spending on private transportation by 1.8%, the group of hospital services by 0.5%.