CBE keeps Interest Rates Unchanged at 16.75%, 17.75%

CAIRO, Nov. 16 (SEE)- The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) committee decided on Thursday to keep interest rates unchanged at 16.75%, 17.75%.

The overnight deposit and lending rates were fixed at 16.75% and 17.75%, while the key operation price, the credit and discount rate at 17.25%.

After a sudden increase in the prices of some vegetables in October, The annual inflation rate rose to 17.7%. However, fiscal tightening measures pushed the annual inflation rate up from 11.4 percent last May.

The CBE's restrictive monetary policy has contained the rest of goods and services, with the annual rate of core inflation declining to an average of 8.7% between July and October.

The GDP growth rate stabilized in the Q2 of the fiscal year 2018 at 5.4%, after a rise in the last three quarters in a row.

"Financial reform policies succeeded in stimulating the fundamentals of the macroeconomy, managing to contain the impacts of the global financial markets' volatility over domestic ones," CBE committee stated.