CBE: Egypt Maintains Liquidity Not Available in Many Countries

Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Gamal Negm said on Wednesday that banks have huge liquidity not available in many countries that suffer from a lack of reserves.

"Egyptian banks have huge liquidity available for lending to support and encourage the economy, projects and industry," he added.

This came during a press conference around the role of the Central Bank.

He noted that the CBE works to provide the opportunity of creating jobs and encouraging industry, pointing out to the great desire among banks to provide financing for project owners.

On the "default initiative" launched by the Central Bank of Egypt, the Deputy Governor noted that meetings were held with 155 default clients, where EGP 19.4 billion were settled, and EGP 10.9 billion were exempted, indicating that the number of clients against whom Judicial actions were taken reached 102.

Also, the procedures against 97 clients were suspended after settling their debts, and other meetings were held with 77 expat debtors, where debts worth EGP 44 billion were settled, and EGP 6.5 billion were exemptions from debt collection.

It is noteworthy that CBE decided at its latest meeting in Feb. to keep the overnight deposit & lending rates as well as the rate of the main operation at the level of 12.25%, 13.25% and 12.75% respectively.