Major General Abu Bakr al Jundi Head of Egypt's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics has said the annual inflation rate in the country amounted to 10.3% during December 2010 compared to 10.2% during the previous month of 2009.
Al Jundi pointed out that the inflation rate fell to 0.8% during the month of December compared 1% during November. The annual inflation rates in prices of food and drinks, which constitute 44% of the basket in Egypt, amounted to 17.2% in December compared to 17.1% in November. The rate of annual core inflation, which does not include the prices of subsidized commodities and materials such as vegetables and fruits, amounted to 9.65% in December.
Despite the price increases, it is unlikely that the interest rate will be raised by the Central Bank to curb price hikes.
