Egyptian women shop at a vegetable market in Cairo (file). Egypt’s urban consumer inflation rose at a slower pace in March and core inflation dipped, the first signs of stabilising prices after the shock from a huge currency depreciation. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is under increasing pressure to revive the economy, keep prices under control and create jobs to avoid a backlash from the public. Urban inflation rose for the fifth consecutive month to reach an annual 30.9%, the official CAPMAS statistics agency said yesterday, its highest point in more than three decades. However the rise from 30.2% in February was the smallest since Egypt abandoned its currency peg in November, driving up the price of imports. The pound currency has since depreciated by roughly half and in Egyptian cities and towns, food and beverage inflation reached 41.8% year on year in March. Annual core inflation, on the other hand, declined for the first time in eight months, reaching 32.25% in March from 33.1% in February, the central bank said in a statement.