National Bank of Egypt deposits hike in August since pound float

National Bank of Egypt (NBE), the country’s largest state bank, deposits rose in August to around 874 billion Egyptian pounds ($49.5 billion).

The bank has raised ‘huge liquidity’ from its high-yield certificates of deposits since the Egyptian pound was floated in November 2016, head of retail products and sales Alaa Farouk said on Tuesday.

NBE received around 330 billion pounds from its high-yield certificates of deposits from November 2016 to September 2017.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided in November to float the Egyptian pound and raise key interest rates as part of a set of reforms aimed at alleviating the dollar shortage, eradicating the black market, and stabilising the country’s flagging economy.

NBE’s CDs were part of efforts to stabilise the Egyptian pound after the central bank ditched its U.S. dollar peg and raised benchmark interest rates by 300 basis points to try to unlock inflows and curtail the currency black market.