The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced the new formation of its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by Governor Tarek Amer.
The committee includes Gamal Negm and Rami Aboul Naga, the two deputy governors, and three members of CBE’s board, namely Mohamed Omran, head of the Financial Regulatory Authority, Ashraf El Araby, former planning minister, and Naglaa El Ahwany, former minister of international cooperation, according to the Middle East News Agency.
The committee will hold its first meeting on 16 January to discuss the basic interest rates, which was supposed to be held on 26 December 2019, and was postponed pending the formation of the committee.
The MPC meets every six weeks on Thursday. It undertakes the tasks of setting monetary policies applied by the CBE and submits economic and financial reports and studies.
These studies include the latest local and international developments and estimate all the risks associated with the possibility of inflation, before making an interest rate decision in order to stabilise prices and create a stimulating environment to encourage investment and achieve economic growth.
The committee also tracks internal economic variables, including inflation, interest rates, monetary and credit developments, asset prices and real sector indicators. It also undertakes tasks of studying and monitoring global growth and inflation rates, global interest rates, and future expectations.
The MPC is formed by a decision of the CBE’s board of directors. It should consist of seven members, comprising of the CBE governor, the two deputy governors, and four board members.
The MPC does not include any representatives of the government to ensure its independence.
President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi issued Resolution No. 678 to form the CBE’s board, headed by Tarek Amer, for a period of four years, starting on 27 November 2019. The board includes two Deputy Governors Gamal Negm and Rami Aboul Naga, Mohamed Omran, Ali Faramawy as an economic expert, Naglaa El Ahwany, Ashraf El Araby, and Tamer Dakkak as a legal expert.
