Egyptian shares surged on Sunday after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced it had reached a staff-level agreement with Egypt for a one-year, $5.2 billion standby loan to help it grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.
The benchmark EGX30 index rose 3.7% in early trade. Before this the index had fallen 18.8% this year, mainly due to the pandemic’s effect on the economy, including a shutdown of the tourism industry.
The agreement, which must be finalised by the IMF’s executive board, would safeguard exchange stability, steady flow on investment dollars and other economic gains achieved by Egypt over the past three years and put the country on a strong footing for a sustained recovery, the IMF said.
Meantime Egypt’s two biggest state banks have collected over $10.5 billion from a new high-yield savings product they introduced in March, officials from the two banks were quoted as saying on Saturday.
The one-year product, launched on March 22, carry a 15% yield.
An official at the National Bank of Egypt said it had collected 122 billion pounds, while Banque Misr’s chairman said it had gathered 49 billion pounds, state news agency MENA reported.
