Egypt’s central bank obligations reach 2.1tln

The Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE)’s total financial obligations, including loans obtained from local and international institutions, jumped to EGP 2.1 trillion by the end of April, up from EGP 1.8 trillion recorded by the end of December 2020, according to data published by the CBE on Monday.

These obligations include EGP 862.2 billion as due credit to the banks in the Egyptian pound, EGP 407.3 billion due credit to banks in a foreign currency, and EGP 19.2 due credits to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to the CBE.

Meanwhile, the data showed that the CBE’s total assets saw a growth by the end of April to reach EGP 2.09 trillion, up from EGP 1.9 trillion by the end of December.

The CBE’s gold assets declined by the end of April to EGP 68.7 billion, down from EGP 64.4 billion in the end of December 2020, according to the data.

The data also unveiled that the CBE’s cash assets fell to EGP 11.6 billion by the end of April, down from EGP 12.3 billion in the end of December 2020.

The IMF is expected to complete its final review of the one-year stand-by agreement programme (SBA) for Egypt in May, which paves the way for Egypt to get $1.6 billion as a third tranche of the $5.2 billion loan it obtained under the programme in June 2020.

The loan sum is used to finance Egypt’s second wave of economic reforms, with a special focus on structural reforms that Egypt launched in April.