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Investing.com -- Egypt’s central bank cut its key interest rates by 100 basis points on Thursday, as inflation continued to slow in the country.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Egypt reduced the overnight deposit rate to 21.00 percent, the overnight lending rate to 22.00 percent, and the main operation rate to 21.50 percent. The discount rate was also cut to 21.50 percent.
This decision follows a deceleration in annual headline inflation to 12.0 percent in August 2025, down from 13.9 percent in July. Core inflation also slowed to 10.7 percent in August from 11.6 percent the previous month.
The central bank cited mild monthly inflation dynamics, with headline inflation recording 0.4 percent and core inflation at 0.1 percent in August, driven mainly by falling food prices and relatively stable non-food prices.
Egypt’s real GDP growth accelerated to 5.0 percent in the second quarter of 2025, up from 4.8 percent in the previous quarter. For the fiscal year 2024/25, growth averaged 4.4 percent compared to 2.4 percent in FY 2023/24, supported by positive contributions from non-petroleum manufacturing, tourism, and trade.
The MPC noted that output remains marginally below potential, suggesting limited demand-side inflationary pressures given the current monetary stance.
Looking ahead, the central bank forecasts inflation to range between 12 and 13 percent on average in the third quarter of 2025, down from 15.2 percent in the previous quarter. Over the medium term, inflation is expected to continue moderating, with headline inflation projected to average around 14 percent in 2025 and converge toward the central bank’s target range in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The MPC stated it will continue to evaluate the magnitude and pace of monetary easing on a meeting-by-meeting basis, with decisions remaining dependent on the forecast trajectory, incoming data, and the prevailing balance of risks.
The committee aims to steer inflation toward its targets of 7 percent (± 2 percentage points) in Q4 2026 and 5 percent (± 2 percentage points) in Q4 2028, on average.
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