Egypt bank assets up 29% in years on solid economic growth

Egypt’s banking assets rose 29 percent in two years, reaching 5.1 trillion Egyptian pounds ($285.3 billion) at the end of March, a Union of the Arab Banks (UAB) official said on Thursday.

The rise was as a result of solid economic growth as currency liquidity, assets, and capital base for Egyptian banks have improved since the central bank floated the Egyptian pound in November 2016, as part of economic reforms.

Banking deposits also grew 26 percent to 3.5 trillion pounds in March, UAB secretary-general Wessam Aboul Fotouh said at the Arab Banking Forum on Green Banking in Hurghada.

“Egypt’s banking sector ranks fourth in terms of the size of assets and first among the non-oil countries,” Aboul Fotouh said.

Loans granted to the public and private sectors rose by around 19 percent to 1.6 trillion pounds as of March, the UAB official added.