A Reuters poll expected the Central Bank of Egypt to keep the key interest rates unchanged this week to balance the deep growth decline due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Previously, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) also kept the interest rates unchanged on April 2, after slashing them by 3% mid-March.
At the moment, the overnight lending rate is at 10.25% while the overnight deposit rate is at the lowest level since early 2016 at 9.25%.
Egypt, like many other countries in the world, has struggled with the collapsing tourism sector. Other factors such as the fall in gas exports, the slumping of Suez Canal revenue, and the fall of remittances from workers abroad also hit the country’s economy hard.
The Planning Minister Hala Al Saeed said May’s economic growth could slow to 2% if the crisis persists until December. The government had also cut its growth target for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, from 5.6% to 4.2%.
