CBE Governor confirms economy is improving in meeting with Sisi

CAIRO – 26 November 2017: In a meeting with President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi Sunday, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Amer reviewed the fiscal situation and the measures taken by the CBE to help implement structural reforms and preserve fiscal and monetary stability.

Amer said that the economic situation is improving as consumption rates decreased, exports increased, inflation is slowing down, in addition to achieving a 4.6 percent growth rate in the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2016/2017.

This has been accompanied with a drop in unemployment rates to reach 11.9 percent in the first quarter of FY 2017/2018 and a record rate of foreign reserves, reaching $36.7 billion.

Amer also said that the banking sector is stabilizing and that it has a high liquidity that helped in financing all types of projects, including the national ones.

This, in turn, will help increase Egypt’s GDP, he said, adding that the CBE has directed banks to allocate 20 percent of their credit facilities to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) until 2020.

Amer further pointed out to the positive evaluation conducted by the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) mission on Egypt’s economic reform program during their recent visit to Cairo.

He said that the economic measures taken by the government continue to realize positive results.

President Sisi has stressed on the importance of taking all the needed measures to trim public debt and increase foreign reserves. He also pointed to the importance of providing the financial resources to offer basic goods to citizens and maintain the stability of prices.