<\/p>\n
The Egyptian economy is improving. EGX is changing.<\/p>\n
This is increasingly looking like a paradigm shift.<\/p>\n
Egypt\u2019s net international reserves reached an all-time high of US$56.3bn in July 2026. Remittances reached US$43.1bn in Jul\u2013May FY2025\/26, +31.2% YoY, after calendar-year 2025 had already set an all-time record of US$41.5bn. Egypt welcomed a record ~19 million tourists in 2025.<\/p>\n
The turnaround in the external position has been remarkable. Egypt\u2019s net foreign assets have swung by roughly US$58bn, from around \u2013US$29bn at the trough to approximately +US$29.5bn.<\/p>\n
Sovereign risk has repriced dramatically: Egypt\u2019s 5-year CDS recently traded around 265\u2013270 bps, a multi-year low and a fraction of crisis-era levels.<\/p>\n
The IMF programme is approaching its scheduled conclusion in December 2026 from a substantially stronger macroeconomic position, with the Government currently indicating that it does not plan to seek a follow-on programme.<\/p>\n
The currency has also passed a serious stress test. Despite major geopolitical shocks, substantial portfolio outflows and significant exchange-rate volatility, Egypt maintained a functioning FX market, record reserves and positive net foreign assets. Importantly, MSCI now confirms there is no outstanding FX backlog for foreign investors.<\/p>\n
The carry trade is back in force, with the IMF reporting record non-resident inflows into Egypt\u2019s domestic debt market.<\/p>\n
GDP growth reached 4.99% in Q3 FY2025\/26 and surpassed 5% recently. Inflation has fallen dramatically from its crisis peaks.<\/p>\n
Confidence is returning.<\/p>\n
But perhaps the most interesting transformation is happening in the Egyptian Exchange itself.<\/p>\n
Listed market capitalisation has increased from approximately EGP2.17tn at end-2024 to around EGP4.3tn by mid August 2026 \u2014 an increase of almost 100%.<\/p>\n
The EGX30 gained 40.6% in 2025 and another 33.5% by mid-August 2026.<\/p>\n
Listed-equity trading reached approximately EGP579bn in the first four months of 2026, +62% YoY, with daily equity turnover exceeding EGP18bn in recent days compared to an average of around EGP5bn in 2025.<\/p>\n
And most importantly, the investor base is exploding.<\/p>\n
More than 420,000 new investors entered EGX in the first seven and half months of 2026 alone. The whole of 2025 witnessed 299,000 new investors.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, FRA, EGX, the Cabinet, the economic group of ministers, and Parliament continue to overhaul the legal, regulatory, tax and technological infrastructure supporting the market.<\/p>\n
The latest tax reforms could be transformational.<\/p>\n
Capital-gains taxation on listed securities was replaced by a simpler stamp-tax regime. A change that was anticipated for 12 years. The standard rate is now only 0.05% per side, falling to 0.025% for same-day transactions. For non-residents, transaction duties were reduced by 60%, from 0.125% to 0.05%.<\/p>\n
And mega-listings with a market capitalization of at least EGP50bn can qualify for a 15% income-tax deduction for three years, subject to the applicable conditions.<\/p>\n
The Government is targeting additional state listings, while more public and private IPOs are expected.<\/p>\n
There is liquidity.<\/p>\n
There are hundreds of thousands of new investors.<\/p>\n
There are record reserves, remittances and tourism.<\/p>\n
There is a functioning FX market.<\/p>\n
There are substantial foreign portfolio inflows.<\/p>\n
There is stronger economic growth and significantly lower inflation than at the peak of the crisis.<\/p>\n
There are tax incentives, regulatory reforms and technological reforms.<\/p>\n
There is demand.<\/p>\n
The missing component is investment banking supply.<\/p>\n
Egypt remains strikingly underserved relative to the size of the opportunity.<\/p>\n
So this is an immediate Call to Action.<\/p>\n
EGX is hungry for IPOs. Now.<\/p>\n
Where is the promotion action?<\/p>\n
Where is the underwriting action?<\/p>\n
Where are the international investment banks?<\/p>\n
Where are the local investment banks?<\/p>\n
Where are the new investment banks?<\/p>\n
If you are there, it is time to wake up.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of newly added investors, rapidly expanding liquidity and an equity market worth around EGP4.3trillion are waiting for the next generation of IPOs.<\/p>\n
Every piece of the puzzle is increasingly falling into place.<\/p>\n
Now the investment banking industry needs to do its part.<\/p>\n
By: Omar Radwan,CFA
EGX chairman <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Egyptian economy is improving. EGX is changing. This is increasingly looking like a paradigm shift. Egypt\u2019s net international reserves reached an all-time high of US$56.3bn in July 2026. Remittances reached US$43.1bn in Jul\u2013May FY2025\/26, +31.2% YoY, after calendar-year 2025 had already set an all-time record of US$41.5bn. Egypt welcomed a record ~19 million tourists…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[4867,1119,266],"class_list":["post-2977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","tag-banks","tag-call","tag-investment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}