Egypt's annual urban consumer inflation slowed slightly to 12.3% in November after a month-on-month drop in food prices, statistics agency CAPMAS said on Wednesday, with inflation coming in lower than analyst expectations.

The median forecast in a poll of 14 analysts had been for inflation to climb to 13.1%. The urban consumer inflation rate in October was 12.5%.

Month-on-month, urban consumer prices rose by 0.3% in November, CAPMAS said. Food and beverage prices rose by an annual 0.7% but fell by a monthly 2.6%, it said.

The annual inflation rate has plunged from a record 38% in September 2023, helped by an $8-billion financial support package from the International Monetary Fund in March 2024.

Inflation has been in part fuelled by an expanding money supply. M2 money supply grew by an annual 21.68% in October, central bank data showed.

The central bank's monetary policy committee left its overnight lending rate unchanged at its last meeting on November 20, but cut rates by 100 basis points in October and 200 points in August as inflation slowed.

The policy committee is next scheduled to review overnight interest rates at a meeting on December 25.