HC: Egypt central bank to leave key rates unchanged on Feb. 20 meeting

Egypt’s central bank is expected to keep its key interest rates unchanged at its next monetary meeting on February 20, an HC Securities and Investment report showed.

The central bank will resume its monetary easing cycle in April, said Monett Doss, a senior economist at Egyptian investment bank HC Securities and Investment.

At the last meeting on January 16, the Egyptian central bank left its overnight rate unchanged at 13.25 percent for lending and 12.25 percent for deposits, unexpectedly halting its monetary easing cycle that had shaved off 350 basis points since August.

In January, Egypt’s annual urban consumer inflation surged to 7.2 percent from 7.1 percent in December after dropping to as low as 3.1 percent in October, its slowest figure witnessed since December 2005.