Egypt Net Foreign Assets Reach US$28.4 Billion in July

EGYPT · MARKETS

Egypt net foreign assets in the banking system, central bank included, reached US$28.4 billion in July. The pound’s slide did much of the work.

What the figure actually measures

The figure is what the central bank and commercial banks own abroad, minus what they owe abroad. A positive and rising number means the banking system is a net creditor to the rest of the world.

Analysts treat it as one of the cleaner monthly reads on external pressure. It can move before headline reserves do.

Egypt spent years with the banking system owing more abroad than it owned. The position has been volatile, not quietly improving.

It reached US$27.385 billion in February 2026. It fell by US$6.1 billion in March on commercial bank flows.

It has spent the four months since climbing back. July’s total is about US$1 billion above February’s.

Reading the pound-denominated number carefully

In Egyptian currency the total rose from 1.378 trillion pounds to 1.454 trillion. That is a jump of about 5.5%.

In dollars the rise was roughly 1.6%.

The gap is the exchange rate. The pound moved from about 49.2763 to the dollar in June to 51.1934 in July.

That inflates every foreign holding when converted.

This is why the dollar series is the one to follow. The local-currency figure will keep flattering the picture as long as the pound is drifting.

The gross numbers underneath

In dollars neither side moved much. Gross foreign assets were roughly flat near US$100 billion.

Foreign liabilities fell slightly, from about US$72.9 billion to about US$72.1 billion.

Foreign liabilities rose in pounds, from 3.591 trillion to 3.691 trillion. They fell in dollars for the same exchange-rate reason.

The pound figures rose only because the pound weakened.

The CBE’s June components do not net exactly to its June net figure. Gross assets of 4.939 trillion pounds less liabilities of 3.591 trillion leaves 1.348 trillion.

The reported net position is 1.378 trillion pounds.

That is a gap of about 30 billion pounds (US$0.6 billion) that the bank does not explain. The composition matters more than the total.

Short-term deposits from abroad can leave as quickly as they arrived.

How Egypt got here

The turn began with the March 2024 devaluation. The US$35 billion Ras El Hekma investment from the United Arab Emirates preceded it.

Remittances recovered once the official and parallel rates converged.

The International Monetary Fund programme has kept the reform sequence in place. Reviews act as a discipline on fiscal policy.

As of early September 2026 the fourth review had not been completed, according to the IMF.

Suez Canal receipts remain the weak link. The Suez Canal Authority reported that traffic through the Red Sea has not returned to pre-disruption levels.

That cut revenue by about US$7 billion in 2025.

What it means for investors and expats

For holders of Egyptian treasury bills. A rising net foreign asset position reduces the risk that investors struggle to get their money out.

Repatriation risk is a central concern in the carry trade. Investors borrow cheaply abroad to buy high-yielding Egyptian debt.

For corporates it eases the practical business of paying overseas suppliers. Import backlogs were the visible symptom of the earlier squeeze.

None of this makes the pound cheap or expensive. It simply means Egypt has more room before it is forced to act.

For an expat holding pounds, the key is to watch the dollar figure, not the pound one. The dollar figure shows whether the country is genuinely accumulating foreign assets.

The pound figure rose more than three times as fast as the dollar figure in July. Most of that gap is an accounting effect.

How Egypt compares in the region

Egypt’s positive position is unusual among large African economies, according to the IMF’s International Financial Statistics. For example, Nigeria’s net foreign assets were negative in 2025.

South Africa’s were positive but smaller relative to GDP.

The comparison that matters most is with Egypt’s own recent past. In early 2024 the shortage of dollars was acute enough to strand imports at the ports.

Reuters reported this at the time.

Much of the improvement reflects borrowed and invested money rather than export earnings. Analysts at Capital Economics noted this in a July 2026 note.

That caveat sits behind every number here.

The risks that remain

Some of the improvement rests on money from abroad chasing high Egyptian interest rates. Those flows are the first to reverse when global conditions change.

External debt service is heavy in the years ahead. About US$29 billion falls due in the next twelve months, according to the central bank.

The Gulf commitments that helped in 2024 were one-off in nature.

Conflict in the region is the biggest unknown. Escalation in the Gulf or the Red Sea would hit tourism and canal revenue at the same time.

What to watch next

Watch the August series when the central bank publishes it. Read the dollar figure rather than the pound one.

The pound stood at 51.4 to the dollar on 5 September 2026, on the central bank’s published rate.

Watch the next IMF review as well. Approval unlocks financing.

More importantly, it signals to portfolio investors that the programme is on track.

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