Egypt's annual inflation rate rose to 35.26 percent in July from 31.95 percent in June, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a press statement on Thursday.

"Core CPI (consumer price index) computed by the Central Bank of Egypt increased by 2.76 percent (m/m) in July 2017 compared to 1.8 percent (m/m) in June," said the CBE in the statement.

An attached chart showed the core inflation rate rising from 13.25 percent to 35.26 percent over the past 12 months.

The inflation and prices have been soaring as the country is implementing a strict three-year economic reform program including austerity, energy subsidy cuts, tax increase and local currency floatation.

The Egyptian reform program is supported by a 12-billion-U.S.-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, a third of which was delivered in two tranches in November 2016 and July 2017.

Over the past few years, Egypt has been suffering an economic recession due to political instability and relevant security issues that led to the decline of tourism, foreign currency reserves and foreign investments.

With gradual security improvement, however, the direct foreign investments in Egypt rose 26 percent to 8.7 billion dollars in the 2016/2017 fiscal year ending in late June, compared to 6.9 billion dollars in the preceding fiscal year, according to a recent statement from the Egyptian investment ministry.

Egypt expects a recently-approved investment law, which offers massive tax incentives to investors, and the economic reform program to attract more foreign investment and boost its economy.

(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2017)