Egypt’s core inflation rate, calculated by the Central Bank of Egypt, increased to 6.6 per cent in November from 6.5 per cent in October.

The index is down by 23 per cent on August 2008.

The core inflation rate does not take the price of fruit and vegetables and subsidised goods into account. These have been the main drivers of headline inflation over the past nine months. The bank began reporting the adjusted index since September.

Headline inflation, which is reported by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation & Statistics, fell by 0.1 per cent to 13.2 per cent. This is the first monthly drop in the index since December 2008. It is down from a peak of 23.6 per cent in August 2008.