The Egyptian market is awaiting banks’ return to business, Sunday, following the weekend break, to assess the impact of the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) decision last Thursday to cut interest rates by 1% on returns from savings products and the cost of borrowing.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the CBE decided to reduce the Bank’s key policy rates—which serve as the main benchmark for short-term interest-rate movements on the Egyptian pound—to 20% for overnight deposits, 21% for overnight lending, and 20.5% for both the main operation rate and the credit and discount rate.
In the first direct response to the decision, interest rates on variable-rate savings certificates and certain loan products linked to the CBE’s interest-rate corridor automatically declined by the same percentage as the cut approved by the central bank.
The Egyptian banking market offers a wide range of variable-rate savings certificates, most notably the National Bank of Egypt’s “Platinum” certificate and Banque Misr’s “Al-Qemma” certificate, in addition to a large number of loan products priced off the CBE’s key policy rates.
Meanwhile, market participants are closely monitoring the implications of the rate cut for returns on local debt instruments scheduled to be offered by the government this week, as well as the potential impact on foreign investors’ appetite for Egyptian treasury securities.
On Sunday, the Ministry of Finance is set to offer two Treasury bill auctions worth a combined EGP 60bn: EGP 20bn in 91-day bills and EGP 40bn in 273-day bills. On Monday, the ministry will offer two Treasury bond auctions worth EGP 37bn—EGP 14bn in two-year bonds and EGP 23bn in three-year bonds—alongside an auction of fixed-return sovereign sukuk worth EGP 5bn with a three-year maturity.
