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A calmer than usual night on the airwaves brought us coverage of the upcoming Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) monetary policy meeting, chicken feed prices, and the Turkish elections.
Another vote for the CBE leaving rates unchanged: “All the signs point towards the central bank leaving rates unchanged,” former Blom Bank Egypt deputy managing director Tarek Metwally told Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi (watch, runtime: 7:01). Metwally joins seven other analysts from our interest rate poll who expect the CBE to hold rates when it meets on Thursday.
There is more to inflation than interest rates: With a lot of the inflation being driven by exchange-rate weakness and a shortage of USDs, Metwally advocated that the central bank raise rates after the country sees new FX inflows. “Interest rates are no longer the only tool to help soaring inflation seeing Egypt’s current circumstances,” he added, echoing recent statements by CBE Governor Hassan Abdalla.
The CBE needs to wait and see: The bank needs to “wait and see” the impact of the slowing inflation, he said, noting that gold prices and the price of USDs in the black market have slipped in recent days.
The talking heads checked in on the poultry market after the government announced plans to release some 380k tons of feed over the coming week. Government efforts to release feed have already caused corn prices to drop to EGP 14k per ton from EGP 18k last month, Tharwat El Zeiny, deputy chairman of the Egyptian Poultry Association, told Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 6:42). Falling feed prices drop will help to calm chicken and meat prices, which have soared to record highs in recent weeks. El Zeiny also joined Kelma Akhira to discuss the matter (watch, runtime: 4:38).
The Turkish election got some airtime: Turkey will hold a runoff vote later this month after president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his main opponent, social democrat Kemal Kilicdaroglu, both failed to secure 50% of the votes. El Heyaka’s Amr Adib (watch, runtime: 9:01) and Masa’a DMC (watch, runtime: 1:07) both had the news.
