CBE to decide key interest rates amid rising inflation

In its latest meeting, held on 16 September, the MPC decided to maintain the CBE’s overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation unchanged at 8.25 percent, 9.25 percent, and 8.75 percent respectively.

The discount rate was also maintained at 8.75 percent.

Egypt’s headline annual inflation rose to 8 percent in September, up from 3.3 percent in the same month of 2020 and 6.4 percent in August 2021, according to the latest inflation readings declared by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS).

The headline monthly inflation rate also increased in September by 1.6 percent, according to CAPMAS.

The consumer price inflation continues to soar in the domestic market, as the prices of food commodities, services, and transportation have increased by between 12 percent and 25 percent.

In its World Economic Outlook Report, released during October, the IMF projected headline inflation in emerging market and developing economies to jump to 6.8 percent by the end of 2021 before declining to about 4 percent in 2022, projecting an upside over the medium term.

Accordingly, the IMF has predicted that Egypt’s inflation rate will accelerate to 6.3 percent in 2022.