The Central Bank of Egypt will review interest rates a week from Thursday when its Monetary Policy Committee convenes. Our take: Expect no rate cut before MPC’s 28 December meeting, by which time a year of post-float inflation data will be in the bag. With inflation on a still-declining trend (remember: ain’t the same thing as deflation, folks), it will be politically acceptable to declare that the war on inflation is being won and that some relief on rates will be appropriate. That also feeds nicely into the narrative heading into a presidential election cycle.

Egypt is on track to issue its first electronic visa in December as part of the rollout of a number of e-government services at the Cairo ICT expo running from 3-6 December. The e-visa had been slated for a May implementation but was met with stiff resistance from many in the tourism industry who viewed it as another barrier to tourists’ return.

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