President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi met on Sunday with Governor of Egypt’s Central Bank Tariq Amer according to an official statement issued by the presidency spokesperson.
On his part, Amer discussed with President El-Sisi the advanced results achieved by the Egyptian economy’s performance during the first quarter (Q1) of fiscal year 2017/18. The Central Bank of Egypt issued a statement earlier in December, noting that Egypt’s balance of payments recorded a surplus of $5.1 billion during the first quarter of 2017/18. This is an improvement from a surplus of $1.9 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year. This came on the back of a significant improvement in Egypt’s current account deficit, which narrowed 65.7 percent to $1.6 billion in Q1 of FY 2017/18 from a deficit of $4.8 billion during the same period a year earlier.
Egypt’s trade deficit declined 5.0 percent to $8.9 billion for the quarter, down from $9.4 billion in Q1 of 2016/17. This largely came on the back of an 11 percent increase in merchandise exports to $5.8 billion from $5.3 billion in the same period last year. Egypt’s oil exports grew 16.8 percent to $1.8 billion in Q1 of 2017/18 from $1.5 billion a year earlier. The annual core inflation rate dropped to 25.54 percent in November, down from 30.53 percent in October. On a monthly basis, core inflation recorded 1.3 percent in November, up from 0.7 percent a month earlier.
The statement added that Amer affirmed an increase in the foreign reserves.However, Egypt is at the same time committed to repay its foreign debts on its due dates, he said. While by end of November foreign reserves amounted to $36.723 billion, compared with $36.703 at end of October. Amer said that these positive indicators reflect that Egypt is on the right track.
The CBE governor pointed out that removing limits put on dollar deposits and withdrawals used for non-essential commodities came on the back of the stability and trust in the exchange rate of foreign currencies in Egypt. The CBE has removed caps for the deposit and withdrawal of foreign currency for importers of non-essential goods, a sign of improving dollar liquidity at banks.
Amer said that the executive council of International Monetary (IMF) Fund will meet soon to discuss the $2 billion third tranche of the $12 billion loan allocated to Egypt by IMF. Amer added that CBE specifically support SMEs in Egypt through an initiative to allocate 20 percent of the bank’s portfolio for SMEs.
The president called for continued measures towards improving Egypt’s economic indicators and monetary stability, noting the importance of funds to strengthen the social protection networks, as well as supporting SMEs, taking into account its important contribution to the advancement of the various economic sectors, providing employment opportunities for young people, motivating them and taking advantage of their potential for innovation and entrepreneurship.
On the other hand, Ambassador Bassam Radi, spokesman for the presidency, said the meeting of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi with Tariq Amer, Governor of the Central Bank, revealed that unemployment rates have declined and growth rates have improved significantly. The spokesman for the presidency, during a telephone intervention on a live programme presented by Lubna Asal on “ON Today” said that the government has developed a large package of social protection that coincided with the liberalisation of the exchange rate, pointing out that salaries have increased since the budget of 2010/2011 by 250 to 300%, from 70 billion to 200 billion pounds.
He pointed out that Egypt is on the right track, pointing out that there are a large number of national projects, from 12 new cities and 20 universities at the highest level, The administrative capital, the Suez Canal, the fish farms, and the development of the western region of Egypt, which activates the economy and will reflect positive returns.
