Euromoney Chief Richard Ensor has recently stated that he saw some clear achievements in Egyptian economic performance. Still he urged Egypt to upgrade and reform the banking sector.
Al-Ahram Weekly has commented that Egyptian banks have been diligently busy with the new plans to provide the customers and investors additional savings plans and major financial attractive programs, to yield meaningful profits.
Obviously the picture now is a bit grim, as the Egyptian-American Bank has no doubt suffered major losses, due to last week’s horrendous attack on the WTC, which housed an EAB branch.
The Egyptian private banking sector is still somewhat weak and needs a boost, lagging behind the domestic dominant public sector. A recent report has indicated that the public banks control nearly 60 percent of the total banking assets and around 70 percent of the total deposits.
The private sector holds today less than 20 percent of credit services. Even though banking quarters in Egypt indicate the expansion of the banking activities inland, the above-mentioned figures show that the process is merely in its initial stages. — (Mena Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
