21 Mar 2021

The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to hold the overnight deposit and lending rates unchanged at 8.25% and 9.25% respectively, and the main operation and discount rate at 8.75%.

The CBE’s rationale was that keeping policy rates unchanged will contribute to achieving their inflation target of 7% (±2 percentage points) by 4Q22, and maintain price stability in the medium term. The CBE said in their statement that “most leading indicators are gradually recovering to their pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate broadly stabilized at 7.2% during 4Q20 compared to 7.3% during 3Q20, after improving markedly from the 9.6 recorded during 2Q20 due to the sustained improvement in employment levels.” (Source: CBE Press Release, al-Mal Newspaper, Mubasher, Enterprise)