NBE: high-yield deposit certificates raise 130bn Egyptian pounds in one month

National Bank of Egypt’s high-yielding certificates of deposit, launched when the central bank floated the pound a month earlier, have raised around 130 billion Egyptian pounds ($7.2 billion), NBE vice-president Yehia Abu El Fotouh said Tuesday.

NBE, Egypt’s largest two state banks, announced earlier on November 3rd that it would offer 18-month certificates of deposit at 20 percent and three-year certificates of deposit at 16 percent.

The certificates of deposit are part of efforts to stabilise the Egyptian pound after the central bank ditched its U.S. dollar peg and raised benchmark interest rates by 300 basis points to try to unlock inflows and curtail the currency black market.