Cairo – Mubasher: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is probably going to fix interest rates during the next meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee on 21 May, as inflation rates are expected to be nearing a peak, according to Capital Economics Institute’s recent report.
These speculations came after comments by officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) currently visiting Egypt, hinting that the country could use the interest rate weapon again to curb the rise in the inflation rate.
The year-on-year inflation rate increase by 31.5% in April was driven by a strong surge in in food prices, the report showed.
It is likely that the next step will be cutting interest rates, although this will unlikely happen before the end of 2017.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on Wednesday stated that the year-on-year annual inflation rate rose to 32.9% in April, according to a statement.
