The year of 2018 was challenging across the board for many emerging markets, and changing trends in global capital movements have brought turbulence to the Egyptian Exchange as well. After rising significantly in the first four months of 2018, the exchange’s main index, the EGX30, showed a sustained retrenchment to end the year at a level not seen since early 2017. Throughout this period,...
Egypt Financial Services
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Chapter | Capital Markets from The Report: Egypt 2019
Egypt has been a regional banking powerhouse for more than a century and is home to the biggest bank¬ing sector in North Africa. The industry is also one of the region’s most stable, surviving both the economic turbulence that followed the Arab Spring and a more recent foreign currency crisis that saw government auctions of US dollars and the growth of a parallel market for foreign currency....
As Egypt is the most-populous Arab nation and third-most populous in Africa, population pressure is driving the nation’s economic agenda, with an estimated 3.5m young Egyptians entering the labour force by 2023. Recent years have seen an array of public initiatives aimed at encouraging private sector activity, but these remain hampered by a challenging economic backdrop and structural hurdles.
With the largest population in the Middle East, a relatively developed life insurance industry and a government determined to pursue ambitious infrastructure development, Egypt is a promising market for both domestic and foreign insurers. There are currently 34 insurance and reinsurance companies in Egypt and despite concerns regarding sector privatisation, regulatory changes such as proposed...
Chapter | Capital Markets from The Report: Egypt 2018
Despite the economic challenges facing the country, 2017 was a positive year for the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), with the main index expanding by approximately 17%. The EGX remains an important component of the economy and thanks to an ongoing process of market development is likely to continue to act as a useful platform for both corporates and small and medium-sized enterprises wishing to raise...
In addition to having one of the largest banking sectors in North Africa, Egypt’s is also one of the most profitable. In more recent times, lenders have made easy gains on high-yielding government debt following the 2011 revolution, while an improving macroeconomic environment and the flotation of the local currency led to another robust performance for the sector in 2017. However, there are...