Egypt’s two biggest state banks collect EGP 51 billion from new high-yield certificates

Egypt’s two biggest state banks have collected 51 billion Egyptian pounds (around $2.8 billion) from a new high-yielding savings certificates they introduced three days ago, officials from the two banks were quoted as saying on Tuesday.

The one-year certificates, launched on March 21, carry an 18 percent yield.

The certificates are part of efforts to stabilise the Egyptian pound after the central bank depreciated the pound by around 14 percent against the U.S. dollar and raised benchmark interest rates by 1 percent to try to unlock inflows.

Banque Misr’s certificates have raised 14 billion pounds in just two days, said chairman Mohamed El-Etreby. Meanwhile, the National Bank of Egypt’s (NBE) has collected 37 billion pounds, NBE chairman Hisham Okasha said.