NBE and Banque Misr Collect EGP 460 Billion From Recently Introduced Saving Certificates

The Chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Banks and Banque Misr, Mohamed El-Etreby, revealed on Monday 30 January that the 25 percent and 22.5 percent saving certificates of deposit (CDs) offered by Banque Misr and the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), collected a total of EGP 460 billion.

With an annual interest of 25 percent spent at the end of the period, or 22.5 percent spent monthly for a period of one year, these certificates offered the highest yield on record for both banks.

Issued on 4 January, the certificates garnered this amount in less than one month. However, Egypt’s two biggest state-owned banks announced that they will stop issuing these certificates by the end of January.

Since March 2021, Egyptian banks have been releasing saving certificates with all-time high-interest rates to cope with rising inflation and a shortage in foreign currency, with the US dollar currently standing at EGP 30.

According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egypt’s annual urban consumer inflation rate jumped to a five-year high of 18.7 percent in November 2022, the highest rate since December 2017, when inflation reached 21.9 percent.

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