Arab Finance: The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has cut its key policy rates by 100 basis points (bps), based on its assessment of current inflation dynamics and the outlook since the previous meeting, the CBE announced on February 12th.

The committee reduced the overnight deposit rate to 19.0%, the overnight lending rate to 20.0%, and the rate of the main operation to 19.5%.

The discount rate was also lowered to 19.5%.

The CBE also cut the required reserve ratio for commercial banks to 16%, down from 18%.

It said the decisions reflect the committee’s evaluation of inflation trends since the last monetary policy committee meeting.

It is worth noting that the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said Egypt’s annual headline inflation rate eased to 10.1% in January 2026, sharply down from 23.2% in the same month of 2025.

Also, the CBE disclosed that Egypt's annual core consumer price index (CPI) inflation recorded 11.2% in January 2026, compared to 11.8% last December.

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