The National Bank of Egypt on Wednesday began issuing two new certificates of deposit (CDs) in US dollars for a period of three years, amid a hard currency scarcity.
It offers a return of seven and nine percent over a period of three years, the NBE Vice President Yehia Aboul-Fotouh explained, with his statements about the US dollar CDs topping search results.
Aboul-Fotouh’s statements were made during a telephone interview with Ahmed Moussa’s TV show “Ala Massoulity” (On My Responsibility).
He said that offering the dollar certificates “Al-Ahly Plus,” and “Al-Ahly Fawran” with an immediate return of up to 27 percent aims to provide the hard currency that many customers store in homes.
Aboul-Fotouh explained that citizens can break the certificates after six months of issuance. He also pointed out that there are more than four billion US dollars outside the banking sector.
The NBE provided a personal loan by the guarantee of transferring the equivalent value of the installment in foreign currency.
This loan for Egyptians abroad comes with a minimum loan of LE 50,000 and a maximum of three million LE.
The vice president of the NBE assured that Egyptians can buy the US dollar certificates without being asked about the source of these funds.
“If you have a million dollars, enter the bank and get the US dollar certificate, and no one will ask you where you got the money from,” Aboul-Fotouh said.
He noted that the NBE gave LE 18 billion in loans for real estate financing, pointing out that there was an increase in bank deposits from six trillion LE to LE 9.5 trillion.
And Aboul-Fotouh pointed out that the NBE has succeeded in collecting US$3.5 billion from US dollar CDs with a monthly return of 5.25 percent per month that were offered during the last period.
“There are more than 600 branches for NBE across Egypt, and all citizens can go to the branch closest to it and obtain the services they wish,” he said.
