Egypt's inflation rate cools to 11.8%

Egypt's inflation rate declined in June as food prices, one of the causes of the unrest that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, rose at a slower pace. The inflation rate in urban parts of Egypt, the gauge that the central bank monitors, fell to 11.8 per cent from 11.9 per cent in May, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics said on its website Sunday. Food and beverage prices, the biggest component in the consumer price index, rose 19 per cent, compared with 19.8 per cent a month earlier. "June is a time of school exams and usually there isn't much spending," Aliah Mamdouh, an economist at Cairo-based investment bank CI Capital Holding, said before the figures were published. Article continues below She correctly forecast Sunday's inflation rate. Economic growth may slow to 1 per cent this year, the International Monetary Fund has said, as the turmoil hurts revenue from tourism and industrial output. The central bank last month left its overnight deposit rate unchanged at 8.25 per cent, the lowest level in more than four years, and the overnight lending rate at 9.75 per cent to support economic growth.