Egypt’s February Inflation Advances on Rising Food Prices

Egypt’s inflation rate accelerated in February on rising food prices, one of the causes of unrest that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The annual inflation rate in urban parts of Egypt, the gauge the central bank monitors, increased to 9.2 percent from 8.6 percent in January, the official statistics agency said on its website today. Food and beverage costs, the biggest component of the consumer-price index, increased an annualized 12.6 percent compared with 11.2 percent in January.