NBE, Banque Misr stop 20% savings certificates

CAIRO – 16 February 2018: The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) announced that it stopped on Thursday issuing its 18-month platinum savings certificate with 20% annual return rate, while the current certificate holders will continue to receive the same interest rates until the end of their certificates’ maturity.

The NBE has collected LE 400 billion ($22.7 billion) worth of investments from its platinum savings certificates since the flotation of the Egyptian pound in November 2016.

The bank also reduced the return rates on the three-year certificates to 15% instead of 16%, starting from Sunday, February 18. The bank will offer a new one-year certificate with a quarterly return and an annual return rate of 17%.

The NBE said that it will review the prices of all its savings certificates in the Egyptian pound within the coming days in accordance with the decisions of the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) Monetary Policy Committee.

Meanwhile, Banque Misr decided to suspend its 20% interest rate savings certificate, replacing it with a new one-year certificate with an interest rate of 17%, and it will also replace the current 16% interest rate savings certificate with a new certificate at a 15% interest rate.

The CBE floated the Egyptian pound in November 2016 as part of an economic reform program that included the removal of subsidies on essential commodities in an effort to obtain a $12 billion loan from the IMF.