CAIRO - Egypt's central bank kept its benchmark interest rates unchanged at a four-year low as headline inflation in the most populous Arab country slowed. The Monetary Policy Committee left the overnight deposit rate at 8.25 per cent and the overnight lending rate at 9.75 per cent, the Cairo-based central bank said in a statement on its website yesterday. Headline inflation in urban areas, the rate that the central bank monitors, eased to 10.2 per cent in November from 11 per cent in the previous month. Core inflation, which excludes the prices of fruits and vegetables as well as regulated prices, accelerated to 8.58 per cent from 7.75 per cent over the same period last year. "The central bank is unlikely to address one-off increases and seasonal spikes in prices such as those of food with raising interest rates, as it would have a limited effect," Cairo-based investment bank Beltone Financial said in a an announcement.
