Stocks in Egypt end 1% higher as country strikes IMF loan deal
Egypt’s stock market traded higher on Thursday after the country agreed a three-year, $12 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund. Main index, EGX30 also surged 1.04 percent, to 8377.71 points.
The International Monetary Fund said earlier it has reached a deal to assist Egypt with a three-year loan programme worth about $12 billion tied to economic reforms.
IMF added that upon the loan programme, the Egyptian government’s fiscal policy would be anchored to placing public debt on a clearly declining path toward more sustainable levels.
Over the IMF programme period, Egypt’s general government debt is expected to decline from about 98 percent in 15/16 to about 88 percent of GDP in the financial year 2018/19.
“the Egyptian government, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and the IMF team have reached a staff-level agreement on a three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) in the amount of SDR 8.5966 billion (422 percent of quota or about US$12 billion).” Chris Jarvis, Head of IMF Mission to Egypt, said in a statement.
Other indices; EGX50 EWI index fell 0.50 percent, to 1421.08 points; EGX20 added 0.21 percent, to 8532.51 points.
Mid- and small-cap index EGX70 rose 0.34 percent, to 363.39 points. Price index, EGX100 went up 0.46 percent, to 806.66 points.
Market Cap
Market capitalisation incurred losses worth 1.3 billion Egyptian pounds ($146.4 million), to record 418.640 billion pounds during the closing session of Thursday.
Turnovers doubled
The bourse’s trading volume reached 356.802 million securities, with turnovers, closing at 912.671 million pounds, exchanged through 26,091 transactions.
Also during the closing session, 171 listed securities have been traded in, 80 declined, 60 advanced; while 29 kept their previous levels.
Investors’ Activities
Local investors and Arab investors were net buyers controlling 82.75 and 8.54 percent respectively of the total markets, with a net equity of 50.025 million pounds and 7.269 million pounds, respectively, excluding the deals.
On the contrary, non-Arab foreign investors were net sellers capturing 8.72 percent of the total market, with a net equity of 57.294 million pounds, excluding the deals.
