Recent fuel price hikes implemented in Egypt may contribute to a rise in inflation starting in June when the North African country’s current fiscal year comes to an end. Egypt’s Fuel Automatic Pricing Committee (FAPC) raised early March fuel prices for various types of octanes between EGP 0.75 and EGP 1 per liter (7%-10%) while keeping the price of diesel stable. The committee said the action comes amid global oil and gas price fluctuations. Global oil prices have been fluctuating before trading at $85.83 per barrel for Brent Crude and about $3 per Metric Million British Thermal Unit (MMBtu) for…
Author: Doaa A.Moneim
Egypt is set to embark on its initial public offering (IPO) program in March, a decision that experts described as positive for the economy in general, yet came amid tough economic challenges and fluctuating stock markets. IMF deal Under the 46-month deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which came into effect in late December, Egypt’s government pledged to slow down the implementation of public investment projects, including national projects in order to ease pressures on the foreign exchange market and curb inflation. Moreover, Egypt’s government also vowed to boost the role of the private sector in economic activity and…
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) maintained key interest rates in the first meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee in 2023, an action that analysts described as the calm before the storm, especially since Egypt is engaging in an International Monetary Fund (IMF)-backed deal through Fiscal Year (FY) 2025/2026. Rates unchanged Following total hikes of 8% (800 bps) applied over 2022, within which a 3% (300 bps) rise was introduced in December, the CBE kept interest rates at 16.25%, 17.25%, 16.75%, and 16.75% for the overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate, the rate of the main operation, and the discount…
For the second time in less than six years, Egypt has won the approval of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a new $3 billion loan deal under the Fund’s extended fund facility (EFF). This is the same facility Egypt had implemented its first wave of economic reforms (November 2016-July 2019) under, with a loan worth $12 billion. The newly attained $3 billion loan is also the fourth one Egypt has secured from the IMF since 2016, bringing the total loans the country has obtained from the Fund, so far, to over $23 billion. This besides a $1 billion loan…
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is scheduled to convene on Thursday to review the key interest rates, a few days after the announcement of the approval of Egypt’s new 46-month economic reform program loan deal backed by the International Monetary Fund. The meeting is the final in 2022. On Friday, the IMF’s executive board greenlighted a $3 billion loan for Egypt under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with an immediate disbursement of $347 million as the first tranche of the loan program that is scheduled to complete by FY2025/2026. MPC decides on the…
Egypt’s government took a series of financial, monetary and social policy decisions last week to ease pressures brought on by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and unprecedented inflation. The slew of decisions came a few hours before the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced reaching a $3 billion loan deal agreement with Egypt under its reform program. On the monetary policy side, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has announced several policies to anchor the US dollar shortage in the local market, keep prices stable, and curb the accelerated inflation that hit its highest in September recording 15.3%. On October 27, the CBE…
Private sector investments in climate financing are high on Egypt’s agenda ahead of the UN Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP27) in November at Sharm El-Sheikh. Marking two months ahead of COP27, Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation organized the second edition of the Egypt-International Cooperation Forum (Egypt-ICF 2022) to highlight the importance of accelerating climate action in Africa, particularly in Egypt. The forum, held at Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, introduced two home-grown products to help investors utilize finances offered by development and multilateral partners, investment funds, philanthropies, public entities, and international financial institutions (IFIs). These tools offer a…
Eyes are on the new Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) governor, Hassan Abdalla, as he tries to repair an economy thrown off course by an overvalued currency, soaring inflation and a banking system facing a shortage of foreign currency. Last month, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al Sisi appointed Abdalla the CBE’s acting governor, succeeding Tarek Amer who resigned after seven years of leading the country’s monetary policy. The president directed Abdalla to develop a policy that will keep pace with global economic changes, diversify the sources of foreign currency and create an attractive climate for investment. Abdalla brings extensive economic…
Egypt has recently increased its assets of gold bars as a safe haven in response to global inflation and soaring oil and gas prices in light of the Russia-Ukraine war. Egypt ranked second –following Turkey– among the top five countries that purchased gold bars to support the central bank’s reserves during the first half of 2022 (H1 2022), according to the latest report by the World Gold Council (WGC) published in July. Egypt raised its gold assets to reach a total of 44.2 tonnes in H1 2022, making it the highest global purchaser of gold bars in the first quarter…
After more than two years of global shocks, Egypt’s external debt continues to mount. As the government tries to rein in a rising debt-to-GDP ratio, analysts say the country needs to focus on FDI and other sources of foreign currency to cover budget gaps and meet its obligations. Long before the pandemic, Egypt had tapped international financiers to support its economic reform program launched in 2016. But the pace of borrowing has accelerated since March 2020 to fund COVID-19 stimulus programs and more recently to cover the rising prices of wheat, oil and other strategic imports. In June, Minister of…