NBE finalizes $9B in LoCs, import transactions since flotation

CAIRO – 7 June 2017: The National Bank of Egypt (NBE)’s financial import transactions and letters of credit (LoCs) have been valued at $9 billion since the flotation of the Egyptian pound in November, bank Vice Chairman Yehia Aboul-Fetouh said Tuesday.

Around $25 billion has been paid in value of LoCs and more $10 billion LoCs have been opened since the pound’s flotation, undersecretary of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Fayed said in a May statement.

The total volume of foreign trade transactions done through the banking sector amounted to $35 billion from the flotation on November 3 through May 25, according to the CBE.

Last week, the NBE’s Assets and Liabilities Committee at the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) decided to raise interest rates on saving accounts 0.75 percent and on six-year deposits 1 percent.

The interest rate on Platinum Savings Certificates, at 16 percent and 20 percent at the NBE, has remained unchanged. These certificates generated LE 300 billion in outcome since the flotation in November.

In a surprise move on May 21, the Central Bank of Egypt increased its key interest rates 200 basis points, pushing the overnight deposit rate up to 16.75 percent, the overnight lending rate to 17.75 percent, and the CBE’s main operation to 17.25 percent.