The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided on Thursday to keep the interest rate at its current levels for the first time this year, following two MPC meetings earlier in the year.
The committee decided to maintain the overnight deposit and lending rates and the main repurchase rate at 27.25 percent,28.25 percent, and 27.75 percent, respectively. It also kept the discount rate at 27.75 percent.
This is the third meeting this year, following two meetings in April and March that saw interest rates raised by a total of 8 percent, with 2 percent in February and 6 percent on March 6 in an extraordinary meeting that coincided with the liberalization of the exchange rate and the rise of the dollar exchange rate in banks from about 31 Egyptian pounds to nearly 50 pounds before receding to around 47 pounds in banks and exchange companies.
The annual core inflation rate, as calculated by the CBE, fell to 31.8 percent in April from 33.7 percent in March. The annual headline inflation rate, as calculated by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), was 32.5 percent in April compared to 33.3 percent in March.
The CBE, on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, offered on Thursday local treasury bills worth 50 billion Egyptian pounds for a period of 6 months and one year, coinciding with the meeting of the MPC to determine the fate of the interest rate on deposits and loans.
The first offering of treasury bills for a period of 6 months will be worth 25 billion Egyptian pounds and will be issued on May 28, with a maturity date of November 26, according to the announcement on the official website of the CBE.
