Cairo – Two Egyptian banks, the National Bank of Egypt and the Banque Misr, announced on Wednesday (4) the issuance of new savings certificates with a 25% yield after one year for Egyptian and foreign individuals. The new certificates are also available at a 22.5% yield for monthly disbursement.,
The bank certificates aim to contain the rising inflation, which hit a record level of 19.2% in November, according to Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. The high inflation was driven up by the price increases of grains and bread (52.1%), beef and poultry (30.3%), fish and seafood (38.0%), as well as an increase in prices of dairy, cheese and eggs (40.4%), oils and fats (19.8%), fruits (8.5%), vegetables (24.6%), and coffee, tea and cacao (23.1%).
The rising inflation led the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) monetary policy committee to raise key interest rates by 300 basis points. The CBE set the overnight deposit rate, the overnight lending rate and the rate of the main operation at 16.25%, 17.25% and 16.75% respectively.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
