Egypt maintains rates, to issue statement later

    Egypt's central bank left its benchmark overnight deposit rate steady at 8.75 percent, as expected, and will later today issue a statement by its Monetary Policy Committee.
    The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) surprised financial markets in January by cutting its rate by 50 basis points and said in April that upside risks to inflation were largely mitigated by imported inflation that is being contained by low oil prices.
    Eqypt's consumer inflation rate jumped to 13.1 percent in May from 10.96 percent in April while core inflation rose to 13.11 percent from 10.96 percent as inflation continues to be affected by the effect of last year's jump in fuel prices following a government cut in subsidies.
    A more detailed note on inflation in Egypt will be published by the central bank on June 15.
    Egypt's foreign currency reserves dropped to US$19.559.7 billion at the end of May from $20.525 billion at the end of April.

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