Despite a challenging economic backdrop, Egypt’s banks have succeeded in growing their assets and maintaining profitability over the past year. Their solid performance has been facilitated by a process of banking reform that began a decade ago, and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) continues to command the attention of the sector with its final...
Egypt’s revolution of 2011 may be over, but the lingering fallout has continued to force the banking sector’s regulator, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), to maintain a proactive stance in addressing potential weaknesses – something it has done with success over the past few years. Faced with a rapidly deteriorating economic scenario, it moved quickly to safeguard banks...
The success with which Egypt’s banks have increased their deposit base against the backdrop of political unrest and economic uncertainty is good news for the sector. According to a recent report by Lebanon’s Bank Audi, total deposits rose by 20.6% in 2013 to reach $189.2bn, an expansion more than double the size of that seen in the previous year.
Given Egypt’s structural fiscal deficit, and the time required to carry out the necessary reforms to resolve it (see analysis), the nation has been compelled to seek external assistance in order to meet its budgetary commitments. A long-term financing arrangement offered by the IMF in the wake of the 2011 revolution has been the subject of heated political debate over...
Speaking to local press in April 2014, former petroleum minister Osama Kamal summed up the government’s dilemma regarding subsidy reform, “There is no nice time to cut subsidies, but the government has to.” Successive governments have learnt the hard way the costs associated with tampering with Egypt’s unwieldy subsidy system. Anwar Sadat’s attempts in 1977 to reduce...
With elections over, Egypt’s economy is showing signs of an incipient recovery. After three years of stagnation the IMF anticipates GDP growth will reach 3.5% by 2015, although much of this may be making up for lost time. The new government has outlined an ambitious vision for the future development of the country, and taken the first steps towards solving a structural...
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