Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation slid to 25.7% in July from 27.5% in June, a rate of decline faster than analysts had forecast, the country's statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Thursday.

Month-on-month, prices fell by 0.4% in July, down from 1.6% in June. Food prices declined by 0.3% in July, though they were still 28.5% higher than a year ago.

A poll of 18 analysts had expected inflation to have slowed to a median of 26.6% in July, extending a deceleration that began in September, when inflation reached a peak of 38.0%.

Egypt has tightened its monetary policy under an $8-billion International Monetary Fund financial support package it signed in March, although that programme has also required it to increase many domestic prices and let its currency plunge.

The central bank hiked interest rates by 600 basis points (bps) on March 6, bringing total increases in 2024 to 800 bps.

The government raised the price of some subsidised products to battle a budget deficit that hit 505-billion Egyptian pounds ($10.27-billion) in a 3.016-trillion pound budget in the year that ended on June 30.

On June 1, the government raised the price of subsidised bread by 300% and on July 25 the price of fuel by up to 15%.