CAIRO, 21st September, 2023 (WAM) – The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided to maintain interest rates at current levels during its meeting on Thursday.

The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept the overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate and the rate of the main operation at 19.25 percent, 20.25 percent and 19.75 percent, respectively.

The discount rate remained at 19.75 percent. The pause on interest rate change comes after 12-percent hikes since March 2022.

“While annual food inflation is still increasing, it is being driven by volatile items as opposed to core food items as in earlier months. Accordingly, inflation dynamics for both July and August 2023 mainly reflect the combined effect of supply chain disruptions and adverse weather conditions, which drive seasonal price increases on agricultural products,” the MPC said in a statement.

“As incoming data since the August MPC meeting – including recent inflation outturns – came broadly in line with expectations, the MPC has decided to keep policy rates unchanged. The committee will continue quantitatively assessing the cumulative impact of previously enacted tightening policies on the economy,” the statement concluded.