CIB Issues One-Year, High-Yielding Dollar-Deposit Certificates at 6 Percent Interest

The Commercial International Bank (CIB), one of Egypt’s leading private banks, has introduced on 3 August a high-yielding, one-year USD-denominated certificate of deposit (CD) with a monthly interest rate of six percent.

According to the bank’s website, the minimum investment amount for these new CDs is USD 10,000 (EGP 309,461), and customers have the flexibility to redeem them at their convenience.

State-owned National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr issued four CDs with a three-year maturity, denominated in US dollars on 27 July; two of these CDs yield seven percent and are repayable in dollars, while the other two have a nine percent interest rate deposited in Egyptian pounds.

These financial initiatives have been developed in response to Egypt’s current challenge in managing a lack of local market liquidity in US dollars and a projected funding gap of USD 17 billion through 2026.

To address this issue, the government announced its strategy in July, with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stating that efforts would be made to boost the nation’s US dollar liquidity to USD 191 billion by 2026. This plan involves maximizing profits from key sectors like the Suez Canal, tourism, remittances, and commodity exports to improve the country’s financial situation.

Previously, the highest interest rate offered was 25 percent for one-year maturity CDs issued by NBE and Banque Misr in January.

Over the past 18 months, Egyptian state-owned and private-sector banks have issued various high-yield CDs to absorb liquidity in the local market, especially considering rising inflation and interest rate hikes.

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