Deposits at Egypt banks fall for first time since September 2014

The total volume of deposits at banks operating in Egypt fell for the first time since September 2014, to record 2.714 trillion Egyptian pounds ($150.7 billion) at the end of February.

In January, deposits stood at 2.828 trillion pounds.

Government deposits also dropped to 455.208 billion pounds at the end of February, from 487.99 billion pounds at the end of January, a recent report by the Central Bank of Egypt showed on Thursday.

Non-government deposits tumbled to 2.259 trillion pounds in February, compared to 2.340 trillion pounds in January.

Deposits in local currency rose to 1.961 trillion pounds, compared to 1.927 trillion pounds; while deposits in foreign currencies retreated to 753.568 billion pounds, from 900.734 billion pounds, the report added.

On November 3rd, Egypt took a dramatic step as it devalued its currency by a third and allowed its pound to float freely in an effort to attract inflows of capital and close down a booming black market in dollars.