Egypt’s bank deposits increase to EGP 4.788trn in July 2020: CBE

Hossam Mounir
8 Min Read

Customer deposits in banks operating in the Egyptian market, other than the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), increased by EGP 87.927bn to EGP 4.788trn during July, compared to EGP 4.7trn in June 2020.

In its monthly report on the sector, the CBE said that the household sector accounted for 83.1% of total deposits. It noted that this sector constitutes 85.7% of total local currency deposits, and 69.9% of deposits in foreign currencies.

He added that government deposits recorded EGP 777.608bn in July, up from EGP 744.391bn in June, reflecting an increase of EGP 33.217bn. The volume of government local currency deposits amounted to about EGP 672.684bn, with deposits in foreign currencies amounting to EGP 104.924bn.

The CBE indicated that non-government deposits recorded an increase of about EGP 54bn during July, to reach EGP 4.01trn, compared to EGP 3.956trn in June.

It added that non-government local currency deposits reached about EGP 3.346trn in July, up from EGP 3.281trn in June. The volume of non-government deposits in foreign currencies amounted to about EGP 664.365bn in July, compared to the equivalent of about EGP 674.308bn in the previous month.

According to the CBE, the growth rate in total bank deposits rose to 17.55% in July, compared to 16.58% in June. It said that the growth rate in local currency deposits increased during July to 24.1%, compared to 22.8% in June, while the growth rate in foreign currency deposits recorded -7.3%, down from -6.7%.

In general, the CBE said the foreign currency deposits represented 16.47% of total deposits in July, down from 16.94% in June.

On the other hand, it revealed that the volume of credit facilities granted by banks operating in the local market to their customers reached about EGP 2.226trn in July 2020. This reflected an increase of EGP 26.4bn compared to June 2020, with a growth rate of 1.2%.

The CBE attributed this EGP 17.8bn increase to a rise in the volume of credit facilities granted by banks to non-government bodies, at a rate of 1.2%. It also reflected an EGP 8.6bn increase in the volume of facilities granted to the government, at a rate of 1.3%.

The increase in funds granted to non-government bodies came as a result of the increase in the volume of facilities in local currency, at a value of EGP 22.1bn. At the same time, the facilities in foreign currencies decreased by the equivalent of EGP 4.3bn.

Credit facilities refer to the loans granted by banks to their clients, in addition to document credits and letters of guarantee issued for them to cover import operations.

The CBE explained that the private business sector obtained about 59.8% of the total non-governmental credit facilities granted by banks to various economic sectors.

The industrial sector came at the top of the list of sectors financed by banks, as it alone received about 31.9% of the total facilities. This was followed by the services sector, which acquired 25.7%, and the trade sector which acquired 10.5%.

Following the previous trend, the agricultural sector obtained the lowest percentage of credit facilities granted by banks to the various economic sectors. It acquired only 2% of the volume of these facilities until the end of July 2020.

According to the CBE, there are other sectors not mentioned in detail, with the household sector topping them. It received about 29.9% of those facilities.

In a related context, the CBE revealed that the investments of banks operating in the local market in local securities rose to about EGP 2.652trn in July. This compared to about EGP 2.622trn recorded in June, an increase of about EGP 30bn.

It added that the volume of lending and discount balances for clients in banks amounted to about EGP 2.226trn in July 2020, compared to about EGP 2.2trn in June. The total long-term bonds and loans in banks recorded EGP 209.464bn in July 2020, compared to EGP 207.144bn in June.

The CBE noted that the volume of bank balances operating in the local market reached EGP 918.937bn, compared to EGP 923.714bn in the previous month. At the same time, the volume of their assets abroad amounted to about EGP 235.907bn, compared to EGP 230.051bn.

The total liabilities of banks in Egypt in terms of local banks recorded about EGP 209.695bn at the end of July 2020, compared to EGP 248.043bn at the end of June. The liabilities of banks operating in the local market towards banks abroad amounted to EGP 125.595bn in July 2020, compared to EGP 125.343bn in the previous month.

Moreover, the total financial position of banks operating in the Egyptian market, other than the CBE, increased by EGP 96.9bn to about EGP 6.505trn in July. This reflected a growth rate of 1.5% compared to June 2020.

The CBE said that the capital of banks operating in the local market amounted to about EGP 173.179bn in July 2020, compared to EGP 173.701bn in June 2020.

Bank reserves recorded about EGP 214.349bn at the end of July 2020, compared to EGP 319.817bn at the end of June. The volume of allocations in banks amounted to about EGP 150.877bn in July 2020, compared to EGP 150.079bn in the previous month.

According to the CBE, the net foreign assets in the banking sector increased by EGP 27.2bn during July 2020, reaching about EGP 157.439bn, compared to about EGP 130.214bn in June.

It explained that this increase in net foreign assets came as a result of the increase in net foreign assets at the CBE, of about EGP 29.2bn. The CBE pointed out that this was limited by the nearly EGP 2bn decrease in the net foreign assets of banks.

This comes at a time when the CBE indicated an increase in net domestic assets in the banking system by EGP 60.4bn, during July 2020, with a growth rate of 1.4%.

The CBE attributed this increase to an increase in the value of local credit by EGP 28.1bn, reflecting a growth rate of 0.6%. It also pointed to the decrease in the negative balance of net balance items by EGP 23.3bn, at a rate of 7.4%.

It indicated that the increase in domestic credit came as a result of the increase in net liabilities from the household sector by EGP 10.9bn; liabilities from the private business sector by EGP 9.2bn; from the government by EGP 5.9bn; and from the public business sector by EGP 2.1bn.

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