Egypt says inflation drops to 2.4%, lowest in 2 decades

CAIRO – Egypt says its annual inflation rate dropped to its lowest in nearly two decades, down to 2.4% in October from 4.3% the previous month.

The figures, announced Saturday by the state statistics bureau, were driven by a decline in food and beverages prices. Those are the single largest component in the basket of goods and services used to gauge inflation.

Khaled el-Sayed, who heads the bureau’s statistics department, tells The Associated Press that the Oct. 2019 rate was the lowest since the year 2000. The inflation rate was 17.5% in Oct. 2018.

Inflation peaked in 2017, hovering around 30% after the government cut fuel and electricity subsidies as part of broader reforms meant to overhaul the economy.

The austerity measures have taken a heavy toll on poor and middle-class Egyptians.