Egypt cuts key interest rates

Egypt's central bank cut its overnight deposit rate by 50 basis points to 9.5 percent and its overnight lending rate by 100 basis points to 11 percent, the bank said on Friday, in a move that should encourage more lending.
In a statement, the bank said a narrowing of the corridor to 1.5 percent from 2 percent was appropriate as "the dire prospects for global growth in 2009 are likely to exert further downward presures on external demand with unfavourable repercussions on the domestic growth outlook." On Wednesday, the government said the Egyptian economy had grown at an annualised rate of 4.3 percent in the three months to end-March.