Food and dollar push annual inflation up to 13.5% in March

Egypt’s annual inflation rate rose in March by two percentage points to reach 13.5%, compared to 11.5% in February, according to a statement by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on Thursday.

The current increase is the largest since May 2025, when annual inflation rose by three percentage points to reach 16.8%, following the government’s announcement of a fuel price hike in April 2025. The rise was also driven by increases of 13.4% in fruit prices, 2.4% for fish and seafood, and 2.1% for vegetables.

A CAPMAS statement confirmed that monthly inflation (the general Consumer Price Index) in March rose by 3.3% compared to the previous month. This was driven by a 21.8% jump in vegetable prices, an 8.5% increase in transportation services, a 6.5% rise in electricity, gas, and fuel materials, and a 5.9% increase in meat and poultry.

Last month, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly confirmed during a press conference that the tomato shortage crisis in the markets had been overcome, commenting on the crop’s price reaching between 40 and 50 pounds per kilogram.

At the beginning of last March, the price of the dollar began to rise gradually due to the American-Israeli war on Iran, with the dollar recording 54.6 pounds by the end of the same month.