Loan balance at Egypt’s banks reaches LE 1.4T

CAIRO – 1 April 2018: Loan balance at Egypt's banks recorded LE 1.4 trillion ($79.16 billion) by the end of November 2017, compared to LE 1.3 trillion by the end of December 2016, according to the Central Bank of Egypt's report.

The report remarked that the loan balance increased by LE 100 billion during the 11 months.

After the January 25 revolution, banks in Egypt resorted to using their liquidity in government debt instruments; treasury bills and bonds, as a safe alternative to investment of surplus funds in light of the high return on these instruments, which reached more than 16 percent.

Banks will finance big projects, coinciding with the improvement of the economic indicators and the upgrade of Egypt's credit rating.

The ratio of loans to deposits in banking sector reaches 45 percent, which confirms that liquidity is sufficient to finance all sizes and types of projects in order to contribute to the growth of Egypt's gross domestic product (GDP).

A study by management consulting firm, McKinsey & Co., showed that Egypt’s banking sector came among the top five banking markets in Africa.

The McKinsey report released in March clarified that Egypt, Angola, Nigeria, South Africa, and Morocco, account for 68 percent of the continent’s total banking revenue pool.