Egypt’s annual urban consumer inflation rose to 15.97% in September from 14.24% in August, yet it dropped by 17% from 32.9% recorded in the same month last year, Invest-Gate reports.

On a monthly basis, inflation increased by 2.53%, mainly driven by a 4.8% leap in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages from August to September, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said in a report on October 10, which according to Reuters, “surprised some economists and analysts.”

The soaring inflation rate “reflects the continuation of massive increases in the prices of fruits and vegetables on a monthly basis, and, to a lesser extent, the … back to school season,” Reuters quoted Radwa El-Swaify, head of research at Pharos, as saying.

Besides, core inflation, computed by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), dropped to 8.55% in September from 8.83% in August.

“Depending on the data for October, if inflation continues to go up, we could start to wonder if we’re looking at a potential (interest) rate hike in November,” Allen Sandeep, head of research at Naeem Brokerage, told Reuters.

In a report issued in January, the IMF expected the inflation rate to drop to less than 10% in 2019, after surging to 35% in July 2017 due to the flotation of the EGP, hence raising energy prices and the imposition of value-added tax (VAT).