Economic reform was Sisi’s courageous decision: CBE governor

CAIRO – 24 November 2017: The governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Amer described the economic reform program implemented by the Egyptian government as a courageous decision made by President Abdel Fatah al- Sisi.

Amer stressed that the plan was fruitful and managed to rebuild investors’ trust in the Egyptian economy, consequently putting the country on the right track.

This came during the dinner held by the Annual Arab Banking in Beirut on Thursday to celebrate announcing Amer as the best Arab Central Bank Governor of 2017.

Amer received his award within the activities of the opening session of the Annual Arab Banking Conference for 2017, which was held under the theme "A Twinning Partnership: Reconstruction and Development."

The governors of the Arab central banks work closely and share many points of understanding, said Amer, noting that Egyptian banks achieved significant successes in terms of profitability rates and asset quality thanks to the banking reform program, which lasted for about 15 years.

Egypt has been suffering from a severe economic crisis since the 2011 Revolution, with a shortage in foreign currency reserves and liquidity. Egypt signed a $12 billion loan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in August 2016, when Egypt drafted an economic reform program that included floating the value of the local currency from LE 8.88 per $1, to a current level of LE 17.68.

The economic reform program included austerity measures such as cutting spending on fuel and electricity subsidies, to direct their cash to social safety programs for neediest segments of the society.

Egypt's foreign reserves registered $36.535 billion at the end of September 2017, the highest since 2010. The GDP increased by 5 percent, making Egypt as one of the top 10 emerging markets.

The country’s trade balance deficit has gone down from LE 32 billion to LE 20 billion in the last period, and further improvement is expected with the increased flow of foreign currency.