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

September 22 to September 28 Coverage:

CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to cut overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation by 50 points to 8.75%, 9.75%, and 9.25%, respectively. The discount rate was also cut by 50 basis points to 9.25 %.

The Minister of Planning and Economic Development (MPED), Hala Al Saeed, stated that Suez Canal revenues reached $5.73 billion during FY 2018/19. Al-Saeed added that before the coronavirus pandemic, it was expected to reach $5.9 billion during FY 2019/20, according to the IMF estimates, and the targeted revenues were expected to reach $6.2 billion in FY 2020/21.

MPED allocated $16.9 billion for Suez Canal investments during FY 2020/21 to implement expansionary and development projects.

MPED noted that Egypt is allocating EGP 119.7 billion for the transportation sector during FY 2020/21 with an increase of 23% compared to the previous year.

The state targets 4.2% growth for the transportation sector in FY 2020/21, instead of 3.5% growth for the sector during FY 2019/20, according to MPED.

MPED approved providing additional EGP 100 million for the Ministry of Transportation to enhance the efficiency of Aswan-Al Alaqy road at a length of 150 km with total costs of EGP 560 million.