The total volume of foreign trade operations implemented by banks working in the local market, during the period extending from 3 November 2016 until 14 December 2017, reached $70.8bn, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
Importation operations financed by the banks since floatation up until now included basic and non-basic commodities. Production materials and food commodities, as well as pharmaceuticals, topped the goods whose importation was funded by banks.
The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) accounted for the largest share of foreign trade operations funded throughout that period.
According to Yehia Aboul Fotouh, chairperson of the bank, NBE funded foreign trade operations worth nearly $19bn during the period from 3 November 2016 to mid-December 2017.
Egypt imports $5bn worth of basic commodities, food, and petroleum products, on a monthly basis.
Earlier this month, the CBE revealed that its foreign exchange reserves increased to $36.723bn by the end of November 2017, compared to $36.703bn in October 2017, an increase of $20m.
In earlier statements to Daily News Egypt, Gamal Negm, deputy governor of CBE, said that total dollar inflows received by banks operating in the local market since the pound floatation on 3 November 2016 up to mid-December 2017, reached about $59bn.
Negm stressed that banks are currently opening letters of credit for basic and non-basic goods importation. According to Aboul Fotouh, NBE alone received about $18bn in foreign currency inflows throughout that period.
