(MENAFN - Daily News Egypt) The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) has financed import operations worth 4.3bn since the decision to float the Egyptian pound on 3 November 2016 until 18 January 2017, according to NBE vice president Yehia Abu ElFotouh. Abu ElFotouh told Daily News Egypt that the bank provided the public sector with about 2bn to finance import operations, while the bank opened letters of credit and collection worth about 2.3bn to finance private sector imports. He noted that the amount of US dollars collected from clients at the bank since the flotation until now amounted to 2.2bn. Its importance comes from the fact that the client had these debt problems for nearly 15 years, which is considered an achievement for the bank. He added that the bank has settled several non-performing debts worth EGP 350m during the first half of the current fiscal year (FY) which ended in December 2016, pointing out that the non-performing debt portfolio increased significantly after the flotation of the pound.

Source: Daily News Egypt January 19, 2017 06:47 UTC