Surging Egypt inflation expected to peak soon: Minister

Cairo: Egyptian Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy said he expects surging inflation to peak by the end of the first quarter this year as the price shocks that followed decisions to raise fuel prices and abandon currency controls fade.
El-Garghy, speaking after data showed annual consumer prices soared to 28 per cent in January, said policy makers expected prices to jump after the pound was floated in November, a step that helped Egypt clinch a $12 billion International Monetary Fund loan accord.
"It is all resulting from supply shocks rather than demand driven kind of inflation,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Dubai on Sunday. "We knew that this is still peaking when it comes to inflation, we expect this to happen.”
The central bank raised interest rates by 300 basis points on Nov. 3, the same day it removed all exchange-rate restrictions. The IMF said last month that prices rose at a "slightly" faster higher pace than it initially foresaw, but expected inflation to ease in the second half of 2017.
When that starts to happen, interest rates will "come down to permit credit recovery,” the IMF staff said in the report presented to the lender’s board before it approved the loan in November.