Egypt’s central bank hikes key interest rates by 2%

Egypt’s central bank said Thursday that it raised key interest rates by 2% in a bid to combat the Arab country’s surging inflation.
The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee said in a statement that it had raised the new lending rate to 14.25% and the deposit rate to 13.25%. The discount rate was also raised to 13.75%, it said.
The intervention is primarily designed to offset rising inflation, which passed 15% in September, and lighten the financial pressure on lower- and middle-income households.
The Egyptian economy has been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, events that have disrupted global markets and hiked oil and food prices worldwide. Egypt is the world’s largest wheat importer, most of which came from Russia and Ukraine. The country’s supply is subject to price changes on the international market.