President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has issued a presidential decree extending the mandate of Hassan Abdalla as acting governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) for another year, starting from 18 August 2025. Abdalla first assumed the role on 17 August 2022.
Abdalla, who brings more than four decades of experience in banking and finance, has held numerous senior leadership positions and was part of the team that spearheaded the banking sector reform programme in the early 2000s.
Before becoming CBE governor, Abdalla was chairperson of United Media Services in 2021. Prior to that, he had a long and distinguished career at the Arab African International Bank (AAIB), where he began his professional journey in 1982. He later rose to the position of CEO and vice-chairman of the bank.
Born in August 1960, Abdalla earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo (AUC) in 1982, followed by a master’s degree in the same field from AUC in 1992.
At AAIB, he gained wide-ranging experience across operations, the dealing room, foreign exchange and money markets, as well as futures trading. In 1988, he moved to the bank’s New York branch, where he was responsible for managing the treasury portfolio and hedging strategies. After a year in the US, he returned to Cairo, continuing his steady progression through the ranks. He was promoted to assistant general manager in 1994, then general manager in 1999, and finally vice-chairman and managing director in 2002.
This period coincided with a critical time for Egypt’s banking sector, which was weighed down by non-performing loans and weak infrastructure. In response, the banking reform programme was launched in 2003, in which Abdalla played a key role.
In May 2005, he oversaw AAIB’s acquisition of Misr America International Bank in a deal worth around EGP 240m. The transaction, which marked Egypt’s first private sector bank merger, significantly enhanced AAIB’s domestic market position. A decade later, in 2015, Abdalla led AAIB’s acquisition of the Egypt portfolio of Canada’s Scotiabank, another milestone in consolidating the bank’s market presence.
Beyond his executive roles, Abdalla has served on the boards of several high-profile organisations, including the Institute of International Finance, the Emerging Markets Advisory Council (EMAC), the CBE, the Egyptian Exchange, GB Auto, Coca-Cola, Endeavor Egypt, Telecom Egypt, Orascom Construction, and the National Competitiveness Council. He has also contributed to academia, serving as a faculty member at AUC and sitting on its Business School Strategic Advisory Board.
Banking expert Mohamed Abdel Aal praised Abdalla’s ability to manage both domestic and international economic challenges with flexibility and precision. He credited Abdalla with adopting practical policies to curb inflation and stabilise the exchange rate, restoring confidence among investors and market participants.
“In my view, his policies in tackling inflation and stabilising the foreign exchange market stand among his greatest achievements, reflecting the efficiency of his leadership and his capacity to meet the expectations of the banking sector and the wider economy,” Abdel Aal said.
He emphasised the magnitude of the challenges Abdalla has faced over the past three years, particularly with exchange rate volatility. “Look at how decisively he addressed this challenge,” Abdel Aal said. “The exchange rate has been a decisive factor in assessing the effectiveness of the central bank’s policy and its governor in recent years.”
Abdel Aal pointed to the flexible exchange rate mechanism introduced in March 2024 as a turning point: “The so-called parallel market disappeared permanently afterwards. And today, for the first time, we see one of the world’s largest banks, Goldman Sachs, affirming that the Egyptian pound is trading at nearly 30% below its real value.”
He further highlighted Abdalla’s innovative use of monetary policy tools in the fight against inflation. “Consider how Governor Hassan Abdalla and his team tackled Egypt’s stubborn inflation, using every available instrument. A key approach was the strategic adjustment of interest rates—increasing them at times to rein in inflationary pressures, and at other times keeping them steady or lowering them to support growth, encourage investment and boost employment.”
Other measures included managing the money supply through open market operations and reserve requirements. According to Abdel Aal, these policies succeeded in gradually steering inflation towards the CBE’s target range.
“In final assessment, despite the scale of the challenges, one of his standout achievements has been his pioneering role in developing banking performance and strengthening oversight of financial institutions,” Abdel Aal noted. “This includes bolstering supervisory, auditing and governance mechanisms to ensure the soundness of the banking system.”
Overall, Abdel Aal believes the CBE’s performance in the coming period will reflect a consistent orientation towards market stability and sustainable growth. “This attests to Governor Hassan Abdalla’s effectiveness and ability to manage monetary policy and drive long-term growth efficiently, even amid the economic challenges posed by ongoing global and regional geopolitical and trade tensions. It demonstrates the professionalism and flexibility required to steer monetary policy in the years ahead,” he concluded.
