Chairman of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) Hisham Okasha asserted that the position of the banks which are operating in the Egyptian banking sector is great and it was not affected by any political or security unrest in Egypt.
The banks keep their Capital’s growth rates of profits and returns, in addition the deposits are increasing very well which confirms the confidence of the banking sector in Egypt, achieving 13% growth rates in the time which the growth rates exceeded 2%.
Okasha added in the sidelines of the Annual Arab Banking Conference which has launched today morning entitled ‘Economic Implications of Arab Transitions’, reforms and role of banks in Beirut-Lebanon on the 14th and 15th of November 2013 that the Lawlessness in Egypt postponed capitalist reforms, which led to rising in liquidity inside the banks aside enables it firmly to support the Egyptian economy in the current time, pointing out that the proportion of domestic liquidity of banks up 58%, whereas the liquidity of foreign currencies reached 53%.
He said the Egyptian economy has all the potentials which will enable it to achieve good growth rates, specially the infrastructure of economy did not affect with the political and security turmoil, as well as there is no fear of exiting foreign investments and it supported with stimulate programs for economy which launched by the current interim government, in addition the investments that intended to pump by the Arab countries in Egypt during the next time.
He noted that the last few period witnessed pressure on the foreign currencies due to the decline of $USdollar, but the Gulf aids supported the position of the local currency, in addition increasing the Egyptian remittances in the last years and it contributed to support the economy as the Egyptian remittances abroad surged by $21billion at the end of 2012, Egypt has captured 40% of money transfers in Middle East and North Africa, according to the latest report of the World Bank.
Within the first eight months of this year the money transfers reached $19billion, explaining that the informal economy in Egypt proved its strength during the last three years after the formal economy fears of expansion during that period.
He further affirmed that the banks which are operating in Egypt have stimulated several economic activities currently, including the tourism and construction to support it in order to face the decline of its activities, noting that the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is providing many concessions for labor- intensive and Small and Medium sized projects .
