The prices dropped on 4 April –  recording EGP 2,130 –   after issuing new high-yield certificates of deposit (CDs), only to rise again – recording EGP 2,205 – the following day.

Following the issuing of new high-yield certificates of deposit (CDs) by the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr, which collected EGP 67 billion ($2.16 billion) in proceeds within the first 24 hours, gold prices in Egypt have rebounded after falling by around 3.18 per cent.

Local 21-karat gold gram was priced at EGP 2,210 on Wednesday, up from EGP 2,165 registered on Saturday, according to the local fold platform iSAGHA.

Local 24-karat gold gram was priced at EGP 2,514 on Wednesday, down from EGP 2,520 last week. In contrast, 18-karat gold gram recorded EGP 1,886, down from EGP 1,890 the previous week, according to the Egyptian Gold and Jewellery Trade Division (EGAJTD) of the Egyptian Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce.

The iSAGHA and EGAJTD are not in charge of pricing or market monitoring; they just release the prices at which gold is traded.

Gold prices in Egypt have recently reached new highs as a result of global price hikes and also dur to the local high demand as people usually resort to buying gold as a safe haven during uncertain economic times, and specially amid currency uncertainty.

Egypt’s annual headline inflation rate surged to 33.9 percent in March 2023, up from 12.1 percent in March 2022, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) recently reported.

In its monetary policy meeting, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) increased on 30 March the interest rates by two percent (200 bps) in an attempt to control soaring inflation.

In 2022, the CBE hiked the key interest rates by a total of eight percent (800 bps) as a result of the US Federal Reserve’s tightening policy to preserve the stability of the local market and its prices, devaluing the pound against the US dollar by almost 100 percent since beginning of March 2022.