A summary of last week’s major macroeconomic updates and indicators brought to you on one page for your convenience.

May 21 to May 27:

The CBE has maintained interest rates as the MPC decided to keep overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation unchanged at 15.75%, 16.75%, and 16.25%, respectively. In addition, the discount rate was kept unchanged at 16.25%.

The US Dollar continued its downward trend against the Egyptian Pound, recording an average price of EGP 16.81 for buying and EGP 16.91 for selling, as shown by the CBE data.

Egypt’s trade exchange with other countries increased by 11% year-on-year and totaled $47.7 billion during H1 FY 2018/19, up from $42.85 billion for the same period a year before, Almal reported.

The CBE will allow banks to count their equity investments in SME-focused funds as part of the mandatory minimum share of SME financing in their total loan portfolios, according to Almal.

The Ministry of Finance plans to narrow the forecasted budget deficit in FY 2019/20 to EGP 720 billion, according to Deputy Minister for Fiscal Policies and Institutional Reform Ahmed Kouchouk, Al Shorouk reported.

The government dismissed reports about resolving and replacing the Taxation Pricing Unit at the Egyptian Tax Authority by the Ministry of Finance, Almal reported.