The annual inflation rate jumped to 16.4% in August compared to the same month last year, an unwitnessed increase since December 2008, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said on Thursday.

The monthly inflation rate rose, meanwhile, 2% in August to hit 194.9 points compared to 191.1 points in July, the agency said in its bulletin.

Inflation rate rose from January to August of 2016 by 12.6% compared to the corresponding period of the year before.

Prices of food and beverages increased in August by 1.6 percent compared with the previous month while they rose by 20.1% annually.