CAIRO  - Egypt’s central bank on Thursday kept its key interest rates unchanged, in line with forecasts from a Reuters poll of economists.

The central bank held its overnight deposit rate at 13.25% and its overnight lending rate at 12.25%, a bank statement said.

Egypt's annual urban consumer inflation rose to 7.2% in January from 7.1% in December after falling to as low as 3.1% in October, its slowest since December 2005.

The most populous Arab country is emerging from a three-year IMF-backed economic reform programme that saw inflation soar as high as 33% during 2017.

"MPC decided that keeping key policy rates unchanged remains consistent with achieving the inflation target of 9 percent (±3 percentage points) in 2020 Q4 and supporting the disinflation path over the medium-term," the bank said in a statement.

 

(Reporting by Amina Ismail and Alaa Swilam Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) ((amina.ismail@thomsonreuters.com; +20 2 2394 8114;))