The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) has granted Al-Ahram Institution a loan worth EGP 150 million, sources told Amwal Al Ghad. The loan will be used to finance modernizing the printing machines of the institution, sources added. The bank has offered Al-Ahram loans of more than EGP 300 million in the last period. NBE have been conducting deals with Al-Ahram since 1980s. More»

The Commercial International Bank (CIB) has announced board reshuffle after it appointed Yasser Zaky Hashem and Sherif Hussein Kamel as non-executive board members. The bank’s new board of directors is now as follows: More»

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has postponed its 60th periodic FX auction from Thursday to next Monday. Sources said CBE cancelled its regular FX auctions on Wednesday and Thursday because it offered US$ 800 million to local banks at an exceptional auction yesterday to address the banks’ needs to finance the import of basic goods. This is the second exceptional FX auction conducted by the central bank after it earlier offered US$ 600 million at the end of last April at another exceptional auction which contributed to the retreat in the value of dollar in the black market to EGP 7.30 from EGP 7.95. The central bank conducts periodic FX auctions on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays since the appointment of Hisham Ramez as governor of the bank which offers US$ 40 million at every FX auction. The US dollar crossed the borders of 7 Egyptian pounds at the end of last week. It has broken a new record in the Egyptian market, hitting EGP 6.9819 for buying and EGP 7.012 for selling. The dollar’s price has largely surged against the Egyptian pound concurrently with the implementation of FX auction mechanism as the dollar’s price was EGP 6.37 and then reached EGP 7.012. More»

Egypt’s central bank will offer a record $800 million at a currency auction to local lenders today to finance imports of staple foods and medicines after Standard & Poor’s warned of accelerating inflation. The regulator, which normally offers $40 million at each auction, is holding a second so-called exceptional sale specifically targeting basic commodities. It sold $600 million at the first such auction last month. Egypt said this month it received $3 billion in aid from Qatar, helping replenish foreign reserves that stood at $14.4 billion, covering about three months of imports, at the end of April. Depreciation of the pound at the sales helped fuel inflation, pushing consumer prices up 1.5 percent in April from March, driven by a 2.7 percent surge in food prices, according to government data. The central bank has given banks more than $3 billion since starting the auctions to ration the supply in December. The pound was unchanged at 6.9819 a dollar at 9:51 a.m. in Cairo. It lost 11 percent since the start of the sales. More»

The Arab International Bank’s (AIB) deposits fell US$ 735.8 million (44.5%) to reach US$ 1.650 billion at the end of 2012, compared to US$ 2.386 billion at the end of 2011. The bank’s financial statements showed that the loans and credit facilities offered to its customers rose US$ 98.8 million to reach US$ 1.462 billion at the end of last year, compared to US$ 1.363 billion at the end of 2011. AIB’s funds and balances held by other banks reached US$ 152.4 million at the end of 2012, compared to US$ 396.9 million at the end of 2011. The bank has reported net profit of US$ 27.049 million at the end of last year, compared to US$ 25.669 million at the end of 2011, registering an increase of US$ 1.380 million. It is worth mentioning that the Arab International Bank plans to start conducting financial transactions in Egyptian pound by the second half of 2013 after it has become under the supervision of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) last year. More»