The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has announced that the total financial position of banks in Egypt increased by EGP 255.385bn to EGP 6.421trn in April 2020. The figures compare to the EGP 6.165trn reported in March.
In its monthly report issued on Tuesday, the CBE said that the total bank deposits jumped to EGP 4.518trn in April against EGP 4.426trn in March, rising by EGP 92.4bn.
The total loan portfolio also recorded an increase of EGP 91.953bn, to reach EGP 2.093trn in April from the EGP 2.001trn reported in March.
The CBE pointed out that the volume of credit facilities granted by banks reached about EGP 2.112trn April 2020. This reflects an increase of EGP 258.1bn, or 13.9%, during the period from July 2019 to April 2020.
It attributed this increase to the EGP 157.1bn increase (12%) in the volume of credit facilities granted by banks to non-government entities. The increase in credit facilities was also boosted by the EGP 101bn increase in the volume of facilities granted to the government, a growth of 18.6%.
The CBE explained that the increase in facilities granted to non-government entities came on the back of the EGP 170.2bn rise in the local currency facilities, while facilities in foreign currencies decreased by EGP 13.1bn.
The CBE indicated that the private business sector obtained about 59.4% of the total non-governmental credit facilities granted by banks to the various economic sectors.
Of that, the industrial sector received the largest bank funding, as it alone got about 31.6%. This was followed by the services sector which accounted for 25.9%, the trade sector by 10.7%, and the agriculture sector by 2%. Other sectors, including the household sector, received about 29.8% of the total facilities.
According to the CBE, bank investments in securities and treasury bills increased in April by about EGP 208.48bn to reach EGP 2.583trn, compared to EGP 2.374trn in March.
The CBE revealed that foreign investments in Egyptian T-bills decreased by EGP 7.622bn during May, to reach EGP 111.481bn, compared to the EGP 119.103bn reported in April.
It also indicated that the net foreign assets in the banking sector declined during April by EGP 87.041bn to reach EGP 41.562bn compared to EGP 128.603bn in March.
