Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation fell to 11.4% in May, down from 13.1% in April, the official statistics agency CAPMAS said on Sunday, a bigger fall than the International Monetary Fund had predicted, al-Ahram reported. One analyst welcomed the figures as “good news for the markets” and said it could give rise to some speculation of a rate cut by the central bank at the next Monetary Policy Committee meeting, due on June 28. “Assuming that the numbers are accurate, this is certainly an unexpectedly good development in terms of incoming macro-economic data,” said Allen Sandeep, head of research at Naeem Brokerage. “Also, it comes as a contrasting development versus other emerging economies which are witnessing a steady rise in inflation,” he added. The IMF said in a report in January it expected inflation to fall to 12% by June and to single digits by 2019. It warned against a premature rate cut and urged the Central Bank of Egypt to remain vigilant.
