Egypt's central bank slashes key interest rates to boost economy

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

CAIRO, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said Friday that
it has decided to cut its key overnight interest rates by 1 percent to boost the
economic growth of the country.

The overnight interest rates will be cut by 1 percent to 10.5 percent for
deposits and 12.5 for lending, the CBE said in a statement.

The decision of the bank's monetary policies committee is meant to maintain
the country's economic growth rate due to a recent plunge of inflation rate,
reported the state MENA news agency, citing the statement.

According to earlier reports, Egypt's inflation rate was down to 14 percent
in January on a year-on-year basis as commodity prices ebbed worldwide.

The overall annual inflation rate was 14 percent in January, the lowest one
since April, compared with 18.7 percent in December, the country's Central
Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said Tuesday.

The Egyptian economic growth rate, recorded more than 7 percent in the past
three fiscal years, is likely to witness a slowdown due to the current
international financial crisis.

The CBE said it will take further measures to contain the negative
influence of the international financial crisis on the country's economy.