Cairo – Mubasher: The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is set to hold its final meeting for 2022 on Thursday, 22 December to review interest rates.
Most economists and investment funds expect the CBE to raise interest rates by a maximum of 200 basis points (bps) while some project they would be kept unchanged.
In November 2022, Egypt's annual inflation rate increased to 19.20%, compared to 6.20% in the corresponding month a year earlier. Month-on-month (MoM), the country’s consumer price index (CPI) recorded 140.70 points in November, up by 2.50%.
On 27 October, the CBE hiked the key interest rates by 200 bps at a surprise meeting of its MPC. The overnight deposit rate was set at 13.25% while the overnight lending rate was set at 14.25%.
Last week, the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) hiked their key interest rates by 50 bps after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) announced a 50-basis-point rise on 14 December.
SAMA increased its repo and reverse repo rates by 50 bps to 5% and 4.50%, respectively.
Meanwhile, the CBUAE decided to raise the base rate applicable to the overnight deposit facility (ODF) from 3.90% to 4.40%, which became effective on 15 December this year.
The Saudi and Emirati central banks’ decisions followed the seventh interest rate hike by the Fed this year. The Fed reinforced its benchmark rate to a range of 4.25% to 4.50%, marking its highest level in 15 years.
