Egypt's central bank hiked overnight interest rates by 300 basis points on Thursday, warning that inflationary pressures were building, Reuters reported. The bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised the deposit rate to 16.25% and its lending rate to 17.25%, it said in a statement. "The MPC judges that demand side pressures have recently increased," it said, citing activity greater than the economy's capacity, higher inflation numbers and faster growth of money supply. The central bank most recently raised rates by 200 bps at a surprise meeting on Oct. 27, the same day it devalued its currency by 14.5% and announced it had signed a $3 billion financial support package with the International Monetary Fund. "The objective of raising policy rates is to anchor inflation expectations and contain demand side pressures, higher broad money growth and second round effects of supply shocks," the MPC statement added.