Egypt apex bank approves new emergency fund rules

On Monday, Egypt’s central bank said that it had adopted a set of procedures that would allow it to provide emergency liquidity to local lenders.

The central bank said in a statement that banks can seek for emergency liquidity if they are unable to access it via the interbank or financial markets.

Only solvent banks will be eligible for emergency liquidity, which will be accessible for a maximum of 180 days, according to the statement. It will be priced at least 5% higher than the overnight lending rate, according to the bank.

The economic impact of the pandemic is causing asset quality to deteriorate in Egypt’s banks. With the help of government support packages for the most affected sectors, the economy grew overall in 2020 and 2021.