Egypt Inflation Slows More than Expected in January

People walk in front of shop markets in the old Cairo, Egypt January 12, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
People walk in front of shop markets in the old Cairo, Egypt January 12, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Egypt Inflation Slows More than Expected in January

People walk in front of shop markets in the old Cairo, Egypt January 12, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
People walk in front of shop markets in the old Cairo, Egypt January 12, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation dropped to 29.8% in January from 33.7% in December, the state statistics agency revealed, coming in well below analysts' expectations.

Month-on-month, prices rose by 1.6% in January, up from 1.4% in December. Food prices climbed by 1.4%, down from 2.1% in December. In the year to January, food prices rose by 47.5%, down from 60.5% in the year to December.

A median of 18 analysts had forecast annual inflation to slow to 32.5%, according to a Reuters poll.

Egypt's inflation rate has been sliding from a historic high of 38.0% in September.

Core inflation, which excludes fuel and some volatile food items, declined to 29.0% in January from 34.2% in December, the central bank said. A median of five of the analysts had expected it only to slow to 31.9%.



Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)

The United States on Thursday called on Israel to extend its cooperation with Palestinian banks for another year, to avoid blocking vital transactions in the occupied West Bank.

"I am glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian banks, but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cut off a vital banking channel between Israel and the West Bank in response to three European countries recognizing the State of Palestine.

On June 30, however, Smotrich extended a waiver that allows cooperation between Israel's banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank for four months, according to Israeli media, according to AFP.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the decision on the waiver was made at a cabinet meeting in a "move that saw Israel legalize several West Bank settlement outposts."

The waiver was due to expire at the end of June, and the extension permitted Israeli banks to process payments for salaries and services to the Palestinian Authority in shekels, averting a blow to a Palestinian economy already devastated by the war in Gaza.

The Israeli threat raised serious concerns in the United States, which said at the time it feared "a humanitarian crisis" if banking ties were cut.

According to Washington, these banking channels are key to nearly $8 billion of imports from Israel to the West Bank, including electricity, water, fuel and food.