Egypt-Saudi relations topped the talk shows yesterday after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi landed in Jeddah yesterday. El Sisi took suhoor with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this morning. Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 5:34) and El Hekaya (watch, runtime: 0:52) had the news, without providing any further details.

Savers have already poured some EGP 19 bn into Banque Misr’s new high-interest certificates of deposit (CDs), bank chairman Mohamed El Etreby told El Hekaya (watch, runtime: 15:21). Banque Misr and the National Bank of Egypt introduced the three-year CDs — one fixed at 19% and the other declining each year from an initial 22% — in response to the central bank’s 200 basis-point rate hike last week.

Declining-rate certificates reflect optimism on inflation: “We introduced the declining-rate certificates because we are expecting inflation to slow down and start declining,” El Etreby said, drawing a comparison with 2016, when soaring inflation was brought down thanks to rate hikes. He also advised people looking to break existing CDs early and get in on the new, higher-interest CDs to sit tight until their certificates expire, unless they were only purchased in recent months. We have the full story on the new CDs in the news well, above.

Tags: