Egypt’s NBE bank: new high-yield deposit certificates raise 95 bln pounds

National Bank of Egypt’s high-yielding certificates of deposit, launched when the central bank floated the pound earlier this month, have raised so far 92 billion Egyptian pounds ($5.2 billion), NBE its vice-president Yehia Abu El Fotouh said Tuesday.

NBE, Egypt’s largest two state banks, said on November 3rd they would offer 18-month certificates of deposit at 20 percent and three-year certificates of deposit at 16 percent.

The certificates of deposit are part of efforts to stabilise the Egyptian pound after the central bank ditched its U.S. dollar peg and raised benchmark interest rates by 300 basis points to try to unlock inflows and curtail the currency black market.