Egypt's core inflation quickens to 9.9 pct yr/yr in March

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's annual core inflation, which strips out subsidised goods and volatile items including fruit and vegetables, increased to 9.9 percent in March from 9.7 percent in February, the central bank said on Thursday. Egypt's economy has been hit by three years of political turmoil since the 2011 uprising that swept veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak from power, leaving foreign investors and tourists unnerved. Economic recovery has been limited in spite of billions of dollars in aid from Gulf Arab states after the army's ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi last July, allowing the interim authorities to launch two stimulus packages. Foreign currency shortages have fuelled a thriving black market where the dollar is trading at around 7.47 Egyptian pounds compared with around 6.97 pounds in the official market. [ID:nL6N0N22BI] Egypt's annual urban consumer inflation rate stood at 9.8 percent in March, unchanged from February, the country's official statistics agency CAPMAS said earlier on Thursday. Annual inflation had reached its highest rate in nearly four years in November but has been falling back since then. Egypt's M2 money supply rose 17.02 percent in the year to the end of February, the central bank said last month. [ID:nC6N0MS003]