Egypt Central Bank Holds Rate as Selloff Spooks Emerging Markets
- Monetary policy committee keeps key deposit rate at 16.75%
- Headline inflation has fallen to within bank’s target range
A pedestrian passes Egypt's central bank in Cairo, Egypt.
Photographer: Shawn Baldwin/Bloomberg
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Egypt’s central bank on Thursday kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for the third consecutive meeting as inflation stabilized, a move that might shore up the attractiveness of local bonds amid a selloff in emerging-market assets.
The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee kept the deposit rate at 16.75 percent while the lending rate remained at 17.75 percent. All 11 economists in a Bloomberg survey had predicted a hold. The decision indicates the central bank won’t resume the easing cycle begun earlier this year before it’s confident that inflationary pressures from June’s subsidy cuts have completely abated.