Cairo – Mubasher: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is pressuring Egypt to keep interest rates high in order to curb inflation caused by the local currency’s flotation and subsidy cuts, according to a report issued by Pharos Investments.

It is expected that interest rates will remain stable at high levels until the last quarter of 2017, with a potential of cutting them after, the report added.

Egypt should work on more measures to tackle inflation, the IMF’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, stated.

The IMF will start negotiations with the government on the sequence of implementing the economic reform programme, which will eventually lead to fully cutting subsidies on most petroleum products, the report showed.

The annual inflation rate in Egypt went up 32.55% in March, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) stated.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) raised the depositing and lending interest rates by 3%, in accordance with the flotation of the Egyptian pound in November 2016, reaching 14.75% and 15.75%, respectively, keeping them unchanged in recent meetings.

The IMF had previously approved a three-year $12 billion loan for Egypt, as part of the economic reform programme adopted by the Egyptian government