Egypt’s stock exchange (EGX) soared on Monday triggered by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s bourse stimulus announcement to ease the economic impact of the coronavirus.
President al-Sisi said Sunday evening that the central bank would support the bourse to the tune of 20 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.3 billion) as part of measures to support the economy in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
Egypt’s main stock index, EGX 30 soared 6.71 percent at midday session, triggering the bourse to temporarily suspend trade for half an hour.
Bloomberg described the index’s surge as the highest “among major peers globally.”
The Egyptian index is still down 26 percent this year, compared to a 31 percent fall for the MSCI EM Index, according to Bloomberg.
Two state-run lenders, the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr had earlier on Thursday injected 3 billion pounds into the Egyptian stock market. Late Tuesday, the Egyptian government also unveiled cutting a tax on dividends for companies listed on its stock exchange by half to 5 percent and lowering a stamp duty on stock market transactions.
