The capital of banks operating in the Egyptian market jumped by EGP 13.74bn at the end of last April to reach EGP 128.301bn compared to EGP 114.561bn at the end of March 2017, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
The increase came as a result of using a part of the reserves, as well as the revaluation of capital in foreign exchange in some banks on the basis of the new dollar price against the pound at the end of April.
According to the CBE’s latest report on the performance of banks in April and May 2017, the banks’ reserves fell to EGP 183.323bn at the end of April, compared to EGP 198.3bn at the end of March—a decrease of EGP 14.973bn.
At the same time, the banks increased their allocations to deal with distressed and bad debts by EGP 373m in April 2017 to reach EGP 110.157bn, compared to EGP 109.784bn in March 2017.
The total financial position of the Egyptian banking sector, excluding the CBE, stood at EGP 4.340tn at the end of April 2017, compared to EGP 4.216tn at the end of March—an increase of EGP 124bn.
In the same context, the CBE revealed a decrease in the deficit of foreign assets in the Egyptian banking sector at the end of April, which reached the equivalent of EGP 7.65bn, compared to EGP 45.24bn at the end of March—a decrease of EGP 37.6bn.
The CBE attributed this decline to the rise in net foreign assets recording the equivalent of about EGP 14.681bn at the end of April, compared to about EGP 5.5bn at the end of March.
The net deficit of foreign assets in banks operating in the domestic market fell to the equivalent of EGP 22.33bn at the end of April, compared to about EGP 50.75bn at the end of March, according to the CBE.
