The volume of credit facilities granted by banks operating in the local market to their customers increased during the fiscal year (FY) 2017/2018 by EGP 203.2bn to reach EGP 1.6297tn, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). Credit facilities refers to the sum of loans granted by banks to clients, along with letters of credit and letters of guarantee granted to cover importation. The CBE explained in a recent report that the facilities increased in June 2018 alone by EGP 13.5bn to reach EGP 1.629tn, up from EGP 1.616tn in May. According to CBE, the volume of credit facilities directed to the government reached EGP 452.9bn in by the end of June 2018, including EGP 216.5bn in local currency and EGP 236.3bn in hard currencies. Non-government facilities recorded EGP 1.176tn, including EGP 849.7bn in local currency and EGP 326.9tn in foreign currencies. The CBE noted that the private sector accounted for 62% of the total facilities granted by banks to non-governmental agencies until the end of June 2018. About 35% of credit facilities were granted to the industrial sector, followed by the services sector that took 29.2%, then trade with 10.1%. As usual, the agricultural sector received the lowest percentage of credit facilities granted by banks to different economic sectors, accounting for only 1.3% of total facilities until the end of June 2018. The report noted that several other sectors, of which only the household sector was named, accounted for 24.4% of the total credit facilities.
