During a meeting with Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Hassan Abdalla, the president stressed that these efforts would strengthen the Egyptian economy’s resilience and flexibility in facing challenges and achieving positive and sustainable growth rates.
According to the Egyptian presidency, El-Sisi directed continuing policies and mechanisms that support financial stability, transparency, and sustainable growth, expanding incentives to capitalize on available economic opportunities, and providing greater space for the private sector to drive economic growth, and attract further investment inflows.
The meeting highlighted the CBE and the banking sector’s efforts in the social responsibility area, particularly in the health and education sectors, as well as key local and global partnerships and national initiatives in which the CBE participated during 2025.
The Egyptian presidency said the meeting also reviewed the developments and achievements in the banking sector and monetary policy during 2025, which reflect the CBE’s resilience and solidity as well as continued strength of financial soundness indicators.
These achievements, the statement said, also reflect the banking sector’s efficiency and ability to support Egypt’s macroeconomic stability, which comes within the CBE’s mandated role and leading function as financial advisor and agent to the government.
During the meeting, Abdalla highlighted the rise in the CBE’s net international reserves, which reached $52.6 billion in January 2026, representing a historic recovery from the $33.1 billion reported in August 2022, while effectively securing enough capital to cover around 6.9 months of commodity imports, and exceeding global benchmark levels.
The meeting also discussed the increase in the banking sector’s net foreign assets, which reached $25.5 billion in December 2025, the highest level since February 2020.
This increase, the statement said, was driven by a growth in the CBE’s net foreign assets, which recorded $15.1 billion in January 2026, as well as an improvement in commercial banks’ net foreign assets, which reached $12.2 billion in December 2025.
Additionally, the rise was supported by the recovery of Egyptians’ remittances from abroad, which recorded the highest level in history, as well as rising tourism revenues, and growth in both direct and indirect foreign investments in the government debt instruments.
Abdalla also noted the improvement in Egypt’s outlook among global credit rating agencies, pointing to Fitch Ratings’ affirmation of the state’s long-term foreign currency rating at “B” with a stable outlook, and Standard & Poor’s upgrade to the country’s long-term credit rating to “B” from “B-” with a stable outlook, for the first time in seven years.
During the meeting, the CBE’s governor highlighted the progress indicators in promoting financial inclusion and accelerating digital transformation contributing to building a more inclusive and sustainable economy and bolstering economic growth opportunities.
Egypt’s core inflation rate fell to 11.2 percent in January 2026, compared to 11.8 percent in December 2025, according to the CBE, while annual headline inflation eased to 10.1 percent in January 2026, down from 10.3 percent in December 2025, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
On 12 February, the CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut its key policy rates by 100 basis points, while the CBE’s Board of Directors lowered the required reserve ratio (RRR) for commercial banks to 16 percent.
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