Data from the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics showed that annual consumer price inflation in cities rose to 5.9 percent in December on an annual basis from 5.6 percent in November. On a monthly basis, the index recorded minus 0.1 percent in December, compared to 0.1 percent in the previous month.
The annual inflation rate is still within the target range of the Central Bank of Egypt between 5 and 9 percent. According to the Central Bank of Egypt, the core inflation rate rose in December to 6 percent on an annual basis from 5.8 percent in November.
In parallel, the Central Bank of Egypt agreed on a set of rules that will allow it to provide emergency liquidity to local banks, as it will grant liquidity to banks in the event that they are unable to provide it from the “interbank” market or from other financial markets.
And the Central Bank indicated that liquidity will be available to banks with solvency only for a maximum period of 180 days, and the financing or part of it can be extended for other periods. The bank disclosed that the interest rate for emergency liquidity will be determined at the central bank's overnight lending rate plus a margin set by the bank at a minimum of 5%.
Source (Al-Sharq al-Awsat Newspaper, Edited)
