In its monthly bulletin on the performance of the banking sector, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) stated that the total balances of credit facilities granted by banks rose to EGP 1.413tn until the end of July 2017. The CBE explained that the private sector accounted for 62.55% of these balances granted by banks to non-government sectors. The industrial sector alone accounted for 35.9% of the loans, ranking first amongst all the other sectors. In second place was the services sector, including tourism, with 30% of the credit facilities, then trade with 9.5%. The agriculture sector tailed the list with only 1% of the facilities until the end of July 2017. A number of other sectors were not listed in detail in the CBE's report. Collectively, these sectors—including the household sector—received 23.6% of the total facilities. A head of a bank operating in Egypt said that the country needs more loans granted to different economic services, particularly the industry sector—considering its importance for the national economy. He explained that the industrial sector is the most important sector that helps to increase economic growth, reduce unemployment, and increase employment rates, in addition to lifting the foreign exchange reserves of export earnings. He criticised the weakness of granted facilities to the agriculture sector, versus other sectors such as retail banking. "The agriculture sector is vital for the Egyptian economy," he said, "It is directly linked to all basic commodities of Egyptians and helps increase exports." The CBE had noted that credit balances granted to clients amounted to EGP 1.405tn in July 2017. The agriculture activity has accounted for EGP 80.8bn of the loans of banks, industrial sector for EGP 212.6bn, commercial sector for EGP 78.8bn, services for EGP 185.1bn, and the other sectors, including household, normal individuals, local nonprofit entities, and foreign entities working in Egypt for EGP 230.7bn. The report also noted that the total loans in foreign currencies amounted to EGP 339bn, of which the agriculture sector accounted for EGP 2.6bn, industrial sector for EGP 167.2bn, commercial sector for EGP 21.5bn, and services for EGP 132.6bn, while other sectors accounted for EGP 149.6bn.
