During today’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) kept key interest rates unchanged.
For the second time in a row, the committee kept the one-night lending rate at 12.25 percent and the one-night deposit rate at 11.25 percent.
Following the unexpected resignation of Tarek Amer, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi appointed Hassan Abdullah as caretaker governor of the Central Bank earlier today.
Amer had resigned on Wednesday, more than a year before the end of his second term in a country whose currency is facing a crisis.
In a brief statement Thursday, Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Radi announced that Sisi had issued a “republican decision appointing Hassan Abdullah as caretaker governor of the Central Bank.”
He added that Sisi met with Abdullah and assured him of the “necessity of developing monetary policies to keep pace with global economic changes, as well as working on providing various sources of foreign currency resources.”
Until his appointment was announced, Abdullah was the CEO of the United Media Services Company, which has a large stake in the industry, from television to radio to newspapers to drama and film production.
According to the website of the government newspaper, Akhbar Al-Youm, Abdullah previously served as CEO of the Arab African Bank in Egypt and was a member of the Board of Directors of CBE.
