Egypt’s central bank tells banks to slash interest on dollar deposits

Egypt’s central bank has told commercial banks to cut interest on dollar deposits to 1 percent above the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) instead of 1.5 percent above Libor.
The decision is effective as of Monday, March 23, six bankers told Reuters on Monday.
“The aim of the measure is to control the exchange market and reduce the expected dollarization operations after cutting the interest rates,” a banker working at a state bank told Reuters, on condition of anonymity.
Egypt’s central bank cut its main interest rate by 300 basis points at an emergent meeting last week, saying it was making a “preemptive” move to buffer the economy against the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.