(AFP photo)
By Hossam Mounir
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided to cover 50% of the dues and upheld funds of foreign investors through direct sale to custodians, according to a CBE statement.
The CBE explained that the accumulation of dues to foreign investors came as a result of their dealings through direct market mechanisms and their non-commitment to the mechanism set forth by the bank.
The CBE asserted that it is now working on covering the remaining part of the entitlements of foreign investors over the next few days, and that there are no entitlements to foreign investors committed to CBE’s mechanism of provinginflows, which were announced in mid-March 2013.
There has been a crisis in upholding foreign traders’ money in the EGX and not transferring it, even two years after settling the purchase operations of shares, bonds, and treasury bills of foreigners. This led to a decline in foreign direct investments in the EGX.
The money is for investments pumped by Arab and foreign investors before the CBE launched a fund in mid-March 2013 to manage the funds of the foreign investors’ transfers, which arrived since that date, whether for investing in shares, bonds, or treasury bills.
These investments represent a significant part of foreign funds in the stock exchange, given that the larger share of foreign money flowed to EGX before 2013.
