Capital Economics praises success of Tarek Amer as CBE governor

CAIRO - 18 November 2019: Capital economics praised the success of Tarek Amer during his tenure as governor of the central bank, which will end on Nov. 26."His time at the helm of the CBE will be deemed a success," Capital Economics stressed.

Capital Economics referred that Monetary Police Committee's meeting on Nov. 14 might be Amer's last meeting if his term is not renewed.

"He has been instrumental in restoring macroeconomic stability over the past few years, taking the painful decision in 2016 to devalue the pound as well as steps to improve the CBE’s credibility," Capital Economics stated in a recent report.

The report noted that the next governor will have a tough act to follow.

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) cut the overnight deposit rate, the overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation for the third consecutive meeting in row by 1 percent or 100 basis points during the-meeting held on Nov. 14, matching experts' anticipations.

The overnight deposit rate, the overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation are cut to be at 12.25 percent, 13.25 percent, and 12.75 percent, respectively. Moreover, credit and discount rates were declined to 12.75 percent from 13.75 percent.

On Interest Rates note, Capital Economics expected a further monetary easing in Egypt during the coming months after the 100 basis points cut in November's meeting.

"While we expect inflation to edge up in the near term, it will remain below the central bank’s target. As such, we continue to anticipate another 225bp of cuts by end-2020," it said in a report Egypt Today got a copy of.

The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) also announced that Egypt’s annual consumer price inflation declined to 3.1 percent in October 2019, compared to 4.8 percent in September 2019, with a monthly inflation up-tick from 0.3 percent to 1 percent.

The CBE said that Egypt’s annual core inflation rate rose to 2.7 percent in October 2019, from 2.6 percent in September 2019.

The report also thought that the easing cycle has further to run, expecting the overnight deposit rate to be lowered to 10 percent by the end of next year and to 9.50 percent by end-2021.