The total financial position of banks operating in Egypt jumped to about EGP 6.889trn at the end of September 2020, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE)
This compared to the approximately EGP 6.676trn recorded at the end of August, reflecting an increase of EGP 213bn.
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has revealed the performance indicators for banks operating in the local market at the end of September 2020.
The capital of banks operating in the Egyptian market amounted to about EGP 174.672bn in September 2020, compared to EGP 172.974bn in August 2020.
At the same time, the volume of reserves held by these banks stood at about EGP 313.086bn in September 2020, compared to EGP 313.472bn in the previous month.
The volume of allocations for irregular debts stood at about EGP 152.999bn in September 2020, compared to EGP 151.934bn in the previous month.
According to the CBE, the volume of credit facilities granted by banks operating in the local market to their customers reached about EGP 2.3827trn in September 2020. This reflected a rise of EGP 182.3bn during the months between July and September 2020, reflecting a growth rate of 8.3%.
The CBE attributed this rise to an EGP 93bn increase in the volume of credit facilities granted by banks to non-government organisations, at a rate of 6.1%. It was also driven by an EGP 89.3bn increase in the volume of facilities granted to the government, at a rate of 13.3%.
The increase in the funds granted to non-government organisations came as a result of the increase in the volume of local currency facilities, at a value of EGP 99.8bn, while foreign currency facilities decreased by EGP 6.8bn.
Credit facilities refer to the loans granted by banks to their clients, in addition to documentary credits and letters of guarantee opened for them to cover import operations.
The CBE said that the private business sector obtained about 59.2% of the total non-governmental credit facilities granted by banks to the various economic sectors.
The industrial sector received the most bank-provided financing, receiving about 32% of the total facilities. It was followed by the services sector which acquired 24.4%, and the trade sector which received 10.8%.
The agricultural sector, carrying on with previous trends, obtained the lowest percentage of the credit facilities volume granted by banks to the various economic sectors. This sector acquired only 1.8% of the volume of these facilities in September 2020.
According to the CBE, there are other sectors, not mentioned in detail, foremost of which is the family sector, which received about 31% of the volume of these facilities.
The report also revealed that the volume of bank investments in securities and Treasury bills (T-bills) increased to about EGP 2.784trn in September 2020. This compared to the EGP 2.727trn in investments made in August 2020, an increase of about EGP 67bn.
In the same context, the CBE revealed that customer deposits with banks rose to EGP 5.052trn in September 2020. This compared to the EGP 4.898trn recorded in August 2020, an increase of about EGP 154bn. This is the first time that the volume of deposits in banks operating in the Egyptian market breaks the EGP 5trn mark.
The CBE also said that government deposits in banks rose to EGP 885.438bn in September, compared to EGP 810.721bn in the previous month. Of this amount, about EGP 778.034bn in deposits were made in local currency, with about EGP 107.404bn coming in foreign currencies.
Non-governmental deposits increased to about EGP 4.167trn in September 2020, compared to EGP 4.087trn in August 2020. Of this amount, about EGP 3.513trn were made in local currency, and EGP 653.528bn in foreign currencies.
In an indication of the improvement in the foreign exchange (FX) position at banks, the CBE said that net foreign assets in the banking sector rose by EGP 99.5bn between July and September 2020. It reached about EGP 221.543bn in September, compared to about EGP 122.098bn in June.
The CBE explained that this increase in net foreign assets came as a result of an increase in its own net foreign assets, equivalent to about EGP 31.4bn. It also saw an increase in net foreign assets with banks, equivalent to EGP 68.1bn.
