Interest rate decision appropriate to all Egyptians: Amer

CAIRO - 23 May 2017: The two percent hike in the interest rate came on a ‘suitable time and is convenient’ to all segments of the Egyptian society, governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Amer said Tuesday.

“When the CBE decides to raise interest rates, it does not look at certain segments; it however looks at the society as a whole,” Amer said at a press conference Tuesday.
The move is meeting an advice from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to raise interest rates, in order to curb inflation.

In a late Sunday meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the CBE decided to raise interest rates by 200 basis points from 14.75 percent to 16.75 percent, and from 15.75 percent to 17.75 percent, respectively.

The decision was seen as surprising to majority of research firms, analysts and economists who had forecasted the Central Bank to keep it on hold.

The headline inflation surged to 32.9 percent year-on-year in April, registering a 30-year-high rate. The monthly rate of overall price gains eased to 1.8 percent last month from 2.1 percent in March, according to state statistics body CAPMAS.