Egypt cbank holds interest rates steady 7th time

Egypt's central bank left its key overnight interest rates on hold on Thursday, its seventh pause since it stopped lowering rates in September, the central bank said on its website.

It kept the overnight lending rate steady at 9.75 per cent and the deposit rate at 8.25 per cent, the website said. It also left the discount rate unchanged at 8.5 per cent.

All 10 economists in a Reuters poll this week forecast that the bank's Monetary Policy Committee would keep rates steady.