The Central Bank of Egypt kept the main interest rates unchanged, as the Monetary Policy Committee kept the overnight lending rate at 9.25 percent, and the overnight deposit rate at 8.25 percent for the fifth time in a row, after it cut interest twice in September and November, by 50 basis points, while its reduction was 300 basis points when the pandemic broke out in March 2020.
According to the Monetary Policy Committee, the inflation rose to 4.8 percent in May from 4.1 percent in April, after it had fallen from 4.5 percent in March. It indicated that inflation readings are expected to be affected by the unfavorable effects of the base year in the near term. The global economic activity is also expected to continue to recover from the “Covid-19” pandemic, revealing that preliminary figures show that Egypt’s real GDP growth reached 2.9 percent during the first quarter of 2021, up from two percent during the previous quarter.
The Central Bank also expected the real GDP growth rate to rise, partly driven by the positive impact of the base year.
Source (Al Khaleej Newspaper-UAE, Edited)
