Cairo – Mubasher: The Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to cut interest rates by 300 basis points (bps) during an emergency meeting.

The CBE slashed the overnight deposit rate, the overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation by 300 bps to 9.25%, 10.25%, and 9.75%, respectively, the CBE said in a statement late on Monday.

In addition, the discount rate was also reduced to 9.75%, the CBE added.

This move aims to support the country’s economic activities “given the current challenges external environment, while the inflation outlook remains consistent with achieving the inflation target of 9% plus or minus 3 percentage points in the fourth quarter of 2020.”

Last week, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) revealed that the country’s annual headline inflation registered 4.9% during February, compared to 6.8% a month earlier and 13.9% in February 2019.

The MPC will meet again to review interest rates on 2 April.