The current Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Amer who succeeded in garnering international and regional acclaim for his efforts to stabilise the Egyptian currency, reduce inflation, successfully manage interest rates, and resilience to financial crises.
The Union of Arab Banks (UAB) has chosen Amer as best Arab central bank governor in 2017 in recognition of his efforts at the CBE and his role in developing the banking industry in Egypt and the Arab countries.
Global Finance magazine also included Amer among the top 21 central bank governors in the world in 2019, according to the annual performance evaluation report.
In addition, Amer won the annual African Banker Award as the best governor in African central banks in 2019.
Before being at the helm of the CBE, he was the deputy governor between 2004 and 2008, and played a role along with the former Governor, Farouk El-Okdah, in preparing and implementing a reform program for the monetary policy and the banking sector.
Amer was the architect of the country’s economic reform programme implemented in 2016 which was mission impossible at the time.
Floating the Egyptian currency
Tarek Amer was one how has taken the boldest most important decision to liberalise the exchange rate on 3 November 2016, a step which was described by senior economist as “the right call, made at the right moment.”
That decision contributed to the US dollar returning to official channels, in addition to the abundance of foreign liquidity at banks and the growing cash reserves.
After the liberalisation of the exchange rate, Amer succeeded in refilling Egypt’s foreign reserves to rise by about 175% to an amount of $ 45.25 billion by the end of October 2019 compared to about $ 16.4 billion when he took charge in November 2015.
The decision to float the Egyptian pound caused a huge change in asset prices in the local currency. It pushed the inflation rate to 35% after a month of floating before it was besieged by CBE to reach 3.3%, by the end of September 2020 despite COVID19 pandemic crisis.
During Amer`s first term, CBE raised the interest rate to about 10%. It also raised the mandatory reserve ratio approved by banks’ savings to 14% from 10% in parallel with some banking procedures directed by banks, especially the state banks NBE and Banque Misr.
In addition to the monetary reform, the CBE under Amer presidency was keen on launching a series of initiatives to support the economic sectors in the country, and support the investment climate.
Amer has received international and regional acclaim from several senior bankers and economists such as Mohammed Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah Chairman of the Union of Arab Banks who said that he is a role model in crisis management and that he played a great role in developing the Egyptian banking sector.
Furthermore, Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank and former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, described his role in reforming Egyptian economy as a “pivotal role.”
Amer was also the architect the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility program for Egypt, which secured a $12 billion loan for the country, after leading Egypt’s exchange rate reform.
In addition, CBE governor was the Egyptian to take over the presidency of the Association of African Central Banks (AACB), which groups 40 African central banks, since its foundation in 1963.During his presidency of AACB, Amer succeeded in taking several important decisions.
Moreover, Amer played a pivotal role in setting the sustainable development agenda for Africa, known as ‘Africa Agenda 2063’, with creating a common Central Bank and a single currency to better deal with the monetary and financial issues as one of its main targets.
