This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.
Fitch upgrades outlook on two Egyptian banks International credit rating agency revises outlook on largest public-sector and private sector lenders from 'negative' to 'stable' after Egypt sovereign outlook upgrade earlier this month
Fitch Ratings revised its outlooks for two Egyptian banks, it announced on Tuesday. The international credit rating agency changed its outlook from negative to stable while affirming their Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at 'B-' for three banks: Commercial International Bank's (CIB), National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, National Bank of Egypt (UK) Ltd's (NBEUK). The outlook revision on the largest Egyptian state-owned bank (NBE) and the largest private-sector lender (CIB) comes after the agency revised Egypt's economic outlook from negative to stable earlier this month. The 3 January upgrade was the first since the country's 25 January 2011 revolution. Fitch said a relative improvement in the political situation, an availability of foreign currency and the financial aid from gulf countries that alleviated pressures on the budget have helped improve Egypt's outlook. NBE's and CIB's Viability Ratings (VR), which are highly linked to the sovereign's ratings, have also been affirmed at 'B-' and 'B', respectively, the agency said on Tuesday. Last July, Fitch had downgraded the long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Commercial International Bank (CIB) from 'B' to 'B-,' after cutting Egypt's long-term foreign and local currency IDR from B to B-. The agency's outlooks had been negative at the time, when mass popular protests had prompted Egypt's military to oust Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, citing the reduced ability of Egyptian authorities to provide support to the banks, and the "likely impact of the heightened political uncertainty on the operating environment in Egypt and hence on the banks' performance and asset quality." Last November, international credit rating agency Standard & Poor's raised its long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings for Egypt from "CCC+/C" to "B-/B" with a "stable" rating outlook. The upgrades came after a flood of aid pledges to Egypt -- from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, totalling over $12 billion -- following Morsi's fall in July, gave Egypt's Net International Reserves (NIR) a much-needed boost. Egypt's NIR tumbled after the 2011 revolution and reached a record low of $13.4 billion in March of last year -- less than the required amount to cover three months' worth of vital imports. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/91532.aspx
