Egypt’s balanced fiscal policies have contributed to the country’s efforts to reduce its debt and inflation rates while driving economic activity, according to Yasser Sobhy, Deputy Minister of Finance for Fiscal Policy, while speaking at the first Africa Finance Summit.
Yasser Sobhy stressed that ensuring financial stability remains a fundamental pillar for his government’s agendas, such as ensuring economic growth and improving citizens’ living standards. He noted that the administration is currently developing its public finance management and implementing programme-based budgeting to enhance the efficiency of public spending, which will help the country achieve fiscal targets within a comprehensive and integrated economic vision.
While stating that Egypt’s experience in sustainable finance is creating new opportunities for other African economies, Yasser Sobhy explained that the issuance of sustainability bonds facilitates the funding of projects with a social dimension, essential for maintaining economic stability.
Egypt’s Finance Ministry is also working to diversify both local and international financing sources and instruments. According to Yasser Sobhy, this strategy will aim to lower costs and mitigate risks while maximising the benefit from concessional financing sources.
While new programmes and initiatives are being implemented to increase spending on social protection and human development domestically, apart from improving public services, Yasser Sobhy also told attendees at the first Africa Finance Summit that voluntary formalisation of the informal economy will be a strategic priority for the Egyptian government to broaden the tax base and utilise the economy’s latent potential.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s net foreign assets (NFA) climbed to an unprecedented USD 29.54 billion in January 2026, marking a USD 4.02 billion increase from December 2025, according to data released by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). This milestone reflects the ongoing positive trends affecting the North African country’s economy, like the influx of Gulf investments, the benefits of a 2024 currency devaluation, and a robust rise in worker remittances, adding more muscle to the country’s external financial position.
“The NFA, which encompasses foreign assets held by both the CBE and commercial banks minus their liabilities, has shown remarkable recovery since turning positive in May 2024. This follows a period of negativity that began in February 2022, when the central bank depleted reserves to defend the Egyptian pound against the US dollar amid global economic pressures. The sharp devaluation in March 2024, part of an IMF-backed economic reform programme, played a pivotal role in attracting foreign inflows and stabilising the currency,” reported Finance in Africa, which decoded the CBE data in detail.
While commercial banks’ foreign assets rose by approximately USD 1.67 billion, CBE’s assets remained largely stable. Net foreign liabilities, on the other hand, declined across both the central bank and commercial sectors, contributing to the overall financial gain. According to the local currency standards, the banking sector’s NFA reached EGP 1.385 trillion, up from EGP 1.216 trillion in December 2025, with total foreign assets hitting EGP 4.692 trillion and liabilities dropping to EGP 3.306 trillion.
Remittances from Egyptians working abroad have been a key driver of this uptick, hitting a record USD 4.0 billion in December 2025 alone. For the full year of 2025, remittances totalled USD 41.5 billion, a significant jump from USD 29.6 billion in 2024, bolstered by improved economic conditions in host countries and Egypt’s efforts to channel funds through official banking systems. Investments generated by the Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, which have been directed toward infrastructure projects, real estate, and energy sectors, also contributed to the positive development, while helping to ease Egypt’s chronic foreign currency shortages.