CAIRO - Egypt's central bank kept its key interest rates unchanged on Thursday, the bank said in a statement.

All 15 analysts previously polled by Reuters believed the central bank would keep rates unchanged at its regular monetary policy committee meeting. 

The bank has kept its lending rate at 9.25% and its deposit rate at 8.25% since November 2020, when they fell to their lowest since July 2014. The bank's real interest rates are still among the highest in the world.

"The (Monetary Policy Committee) decided that keeping policy rates unchanged remains consistent with achieving the inflation target of 7% (±2 percentage points) on average in 2022 Q4 and price stability over the medium term.

"The MPC closely monitors all economic developments and will not hesitate to utilize all available tools to support the recovery of economic activity, within its price stability mandate," the central bank said.

Egypt's economy has roared back after sagging during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. Gross domestic product shot up by 9.8% year on year in the July-September quarter, up from 0.7% a year earlier, planning ministry data showed.

Annual urban consumer price inflation slowed to 5.6% year on year in November from 6.3% in October, data from the state statistics agency CAPMAS showed last week, within the central bank's target range of 5%-9%.

Core inflation rose to 5.8% year on year in November from 5.2%.

 

(Reporting by Ahmad Elhamy, Editing by William Maclean)