No Taxes On Savings; CBE’s Hisham Ramez Affirms

The Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Hisham Ramez revealed that the Egyptian banking sector’s deposits reached EGP 1.127 trillion at the end of last March, compared to EGP 937 billion at the end of 2011, thanks to the customers’ high confidence in banks.

He stated that “banks’ loans and credit facilities reached EGP 530 million and banks allocate enough provisions for loan losses, which is reassuring for customers that their deposits are safely invested.”

No taxes will be levied on customers’ deposits as the role of the government and the central bank is to encourage savings, Ramez affirmed.

Asked about the recent downgrade of Egyptian banks’ credit ratings, he explained that lowering the country’s credit rating will be followed by a downgrade of the credit ratings of its banks.

Ramez added that local banks achieved high profits in 2012, despite the ongoing economic crisis.