Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation decreased to 28.1% in May from 32.5% in April, slowing even faster than analysts had expected, data from the statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Monday.

A poll of 19 analysts had forecast inflation to decrease to a median 30.4%, continuing a slowing trend that started in September, when inflation peaked at 38.0%. Food prices in May were 31.0% higher than in May 2023.

May was the third straight month of declines since a surprise surge in prices in February. Month on month, prices fell by 0.7% in May, while food prices dropped by 3.0%.

Inflation has been elevated for the past year, driven largely by rapid growth in the money supply. (Reporting by Nadine Awadalla in Dubai; Writing by Tala Ramadan and Patrick Werr; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)