Cairo – Mubasher: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on Thursday announced the results of the November meeting of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which kept the key interest rates unchanged.

The MPC maintained the overnight deposit rate at 18.75%, the overnight lending rate at 19.75%, the rate of the CBE main operation at 19.25%, and the discount rate at 19.25%, according to a press release.

The committee based its decision on the decline of annual headline and core inflation, to 30.8% and 30.5%, respectively, during October 2017, the CBE said.

“This comes as a result of the moderation of monthly headline inflation rates between August and October 2017 to around 1.1%, compared to an average of 1.6% in the corresponding months in 2016,” the CBE added.

Monthly core inflation recorded 0.7 percent in October 2017, driven by the seasonal increase in the prices of education services, while retail prices remained unchanged as food inflation continued to drop, supported by the continued decline of core food prices for the second consecutive month, according to the CBE.

Egypt's economic activity continued to improve with real gross domestic product (GDP) rising by a revised 5.0% in the fourth quarter of 2016/17, averaging 4.6 percent in the second half of 2016/17, growing at the fastest pace since 2009/2010, the central bank said.

Unemployment rate narrowed down to 11.9% in the first quarter of 2017/18, which is the lowest rate since 2011/12.

“The baseline inflation outlook remains consistent with achieving the CBE's inflation targets of 13% (+/- 3 percent) in Q4-18, and single digits thereafter,” the bank added, noting that its MPC would continue to closely monitor all economic developments and will not hesitate to adjust its stance to achieve its mandate of price stability over the medium-term.