The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has announced that Egypt’s annual headline inflation rate fell to 12% in December 2018, down from 15.7% in November of the same year, following a decrease in fruits and vegetable prices, Invest-Gate reports.

On a monthly basis, the annual core inflation rose to 8.3% YoY in December, up from 7.94% in November, “due to an unfavorable base effect,” CBE said in an official statement on January 10.

Meanwhile, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) has revealed that Egypt’s annual headline inflation rate declined last November, logging the steepest fall in three and a half years that has reversed an upward trend and recorded 15.7% from 17.7% in October 2018, the first decline since August of the same year when it soared steadily on the back of subsidy cuts.

The announced annual headline inflation rate came within the CBE’s inflation projection for the fourth quarter of 2018 – a 13% with a possible 3% change in either direction, CAPMAS’ November results showed.

The country had earlier recorded some of its highest inflation figures, hitting a high of 33% in July 2017, on the back of another subsidy cuts prompted by a reform program as part of the USD 12 bn International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan deal.