The Central Bank of Egypt denied allegations that it intends to freeze deposits in national banks, in a statement issued by the institution on Wednesday. "The central bank assures that there is no validity to the rumours published on internet websites regarding the freezing of deposits in the Egyptian banking system," the statement read. Rumours of the freeze began to circulate approximately two weeks ago after a series of posts on group pages of social networking websites such as Facebook, stated that deposits would be frozen for around three months. "The reports published on these websites are deceitful and aim to destroy confidence in the stability and safety of the country's economy," the statement added. The central bank announced that total deposits in the banking sector, other than those in the bank, increased to EGP 1.169tn in May, compared with EGP 1.159tn in April, according to state-run MENA. MENA also reported that the central bank stated government deposits totalled EGP 8.123bn, of which EGP 1.64bn was in domestic currency, while EGP7.59bn deposits were foreign currencies. The non-government deposits totalled EGP 1.04tn, compared to 1.03tn the preceding month. Local currency deposits registered EGP 815bn, of which EGP 23.9bn was from the public business sector, EGP 113.2bn from the private business sector and EGP 674bn from citizens and regular clients. Foreign currency deposits were approximately EGP 230.1bn, 12bn from the public business sector and EGP 79.8bn from private business sector and EGP133.8bn from citizens and regular clients. Another EGP 84bn were from other sectors such as non-resident and checks. The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee lowered its main overnight interest rate by 50 basis points on 1 August, taking the overnight deposit rate to 9.25% and the overnight lending rate to 10.25%.
