South Africa reserves. The South African Reserve Bank’s gross gold and foreign exchange reserves fell to 74.513 billion dollars at the end of October, from 75.429 billion dollars at the end of September, and net reserves fell to 71.549 billion dollars from 72.258 billion dollars. The decline is a valuation and transactions read, not a policy event, but it trims the cover behind the rand at a moment when the bank is also publishing its October statement of assets and liabilities.
Egypt certificates. Egypt’s largest banks have passed the Central Bank of Egypt’s latest 100 basis point increase, covered on this site on October 29, into their savings products. The National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr and the Commercial International Bank raised returns on variable rate certificates, which adjust automatically with the overnight deposit rate: the National Bank of Egypt’s three year Platinum variable certificate now pays 20.50 percent a year, with interest monthly. Fixed rate certificate pricing remains under review at the banks, Zawya reported.
Eurogroup and the ECB succession. Euro area finance ministers meet in Brussels on Monday to take stock of the two candidacies to succeed Christine Lagarde as ECB president: Pablo Hernández de Cos of Spain, the Bank for International Settlements general manager, and Klaas Knot of the Netherlands, its former central bank chief. Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis confirmed both nominations on Friday; no decision is expected on Monday, and European leaders aim to complete the appointment in December, ahead of Lagarde’s departure on February 7, 2027. The succession field itself was covered on this site on November 7; Monday’s meeting opens the formal process.
Netherlands. Statistics Netherlands put consumer confidence at minus 34 in October and producer confidence at 2.3, with manufacturing output up 3.3 percent in August on July and 12.0 percent on a year earlier, and GDP growth of 0.6 percent in the third quarter on the second. The CBS described the economic picture as almost equally negative in October, a combination of weak sentiment and still growing output that leaves the Dutch read on euro area conditions mixed.