Egyptian state-run lender Banque du Caire said on Thursday its after-tax profit in 2018 rose 200 percent to around 2.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($145.7 million) from 807 million pounds a year earlier. Total assets surged 13 percent to 165.7 billion pounds buoyed by growth in loans, which recorded 66 billion pounds. Corporate loans also grew 90 percent in 2018, the bank added in a statement. The bank's lending to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rose 105 percent, while retail loans increased up to 13 percent. Customers' deposits were 7.5 percent higher in 2018 to 131 billion, the bank added. "The financial year 2018 is a big turning point for Banque du Caire, as major and several accomplishments were made in all banking areas." said its chairman Tarek Fayed in a press conference. Egypt plans to sell a stake in Banque du Caire by the end of this year, the country's central bank governor Tarek Amer said earlier this week. "The size is around 20 percent; might go up to 30 percent," Amer said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday in Washington, where he attended the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings. The sale would be through the Egyptian Exchange, he added. "It's not about money," Amer said. "We have a plan to support the stock exchange with new issues. There is a lot of demand." He didn't give a value of the expected sale.
