National Bank of Egypt raises $68 billion since 2016-pound float

Egypt’s biggest state-run lender, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) has raised $68 billion since the liberalization of the Egyptian pound exchange in November 2016, deputy chairman said Saturday.

The Central Bank of Egypt decided in November 2016 to freely float the pound and raise key interest rates as part of bold economic reforms aimed at alleviating a dollar shortage and stabilising the national flagging economy.

Egypt is now the safest country in the Middle East, resulting in a recent rebound in tourism and an increase in the size of foreign investments in the government’s debt instruments, Yehia Aboul Fotouh told the state-run MENA news agency.