DUBAI: Egypt’s central bank raised its key interest rates by 100 basis points in an exceptional monetary policy committee meeting, it said in a statement on Monday.
The central bank set its overnight lending rate at 10.25% and its overnight deposit rate at 9.25% citing global inflationary pressures amplified by the war in Ukraine.
“Rising international commodity prices resulting from further supply chain disruptions in addition to increased risk-off sentiment have added to domestic inflationary pressures as well as external imbalances,” the bank said.
Egypt, often the world’s largest importer of wheat, relies largely on grain from Russia and Ukraine.
Headline inflation accelerated to its highest in nearly three years in February, registering 8.8% and touching the upper limit of the central bank’s 5-9% target range.
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The bank maintained its inflation target on Monday and said that “the path of future policy rates remains a function of inflation expectations, rather than of prevailing inflation rates.”
The monetary policy committee had been scheduled to meet on March 24.
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