Egyptian expat remittances surge 40.5% to $41.5 billion in 2025: CBE

Remittance inflows from Egyptians working abroad rose 40.5% year on year in 2025, reaching $41.5 billion, up from about $29.6 billion in 2024, marking the highest recorded inflow, according to a Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) statement on Monday.

During the first half of fiscal year 2025/2026, remittances increased 29.6 per cent between July and December 2025, reaching $22.1 billion, up from $17.1 billion in the same period of 2024.

Monthly inflows are also trending upward, rising 24 per cent in December 2025 to $4 billion, compared with around $3.2 billion in December 2024, the CBE said.

The increase follows a series of corrective measures introduced by the CBE in March 2024, including a sharp devaluation of the local currency and a six-percentage-point interest rate hike, which narrowed gaps in the domestic hard-currency market and improved formal remittance inflows.

Remittances act as a shock absorber for Egypt’s economy, supporting household consumption and providing a buffer during periods of stress. They are among the country’s largest and most stable sources of foreign currency, alongside tourism revenues and Suez Canal earnings.

These inflows have helped bolster foreign reserves and ease pressure on the widening balance of payments (BOP) deficit, which reached $1.6 billion in the first quarter of FY2025/2026, up about 61.4 per cent from $991.2 million a year earlier.

In the second quarter of 2025, remittances rose 29.8% to around $10.8 billion, compared with $8.3 billion in the same period in 2024.

On Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Hassan Abdalla.

Spokesman for the Presidency Mohamed El-Shennawy stated that the meeting reviewed the developments and achievements in the banking sector and monetary policy during 2025. These reflect the continued strength of financial soundness indicators, the resilience and solidity of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), the efficiency of the banking sector, and its ability to support the country’s macroeconomic stability.

The Central Bank Governor highlighted the rise in the Central Bank’s net international reserves, which reached $52.6 billion in January 2026.

This milestone represents a historic recovery from the $33.1 billion reported in August 2022, effectively securing enough capital to cover approximately 6.9 months of commodity imports, and exceeding global benchmark levels.

The meeting further discussed the increase in the banking sector’s net foreign assets, which reached $25.5 billion in December 2025, the highest level since February 2020. This was driven by an improvement in commercial banks’ net foreign assets, totalling $12.2 billion in December 2025, in addition to the recovery of Egyptians’ remittances from abroad, which recorded the highest level in Egypt’s history.

Additionally, the rise was supported by increased tourism revenues, and growth in both direct and indirect foreign investments in Egyptian government debt instruments. Meanwhile, the Central Bank’s net foreign assets recorded $15.1 billion in January 2026.

In February, Egypt’s net international reserves (NIRs) have kept their upward trajectory, rising by almost 2.2% to record a new high of $52.59 billion by end of January 2026, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced on Thursday.

The figure shows a $1.142 billion increase from $51.4 billion in December 2025 and a rise of around 4.7% or $2.39 billion, from November 2025. NIRs also rose by 8.8% or $4.185 billion, in 2025.

Separately, Egypt’s core inflation rate slowed to 11.2 per cent year-on-year in January, down from 11.8 per cent in December, according to a statement issued by the Central Bank of Egypt.

The Central Bank of Egypt announced that Egypt’s inflation rate decreased to 11.8 per cent year-on-year in December. The rate had recorded 12.5 per cent in November.

Egypt’s annual core consumer price index (CPI) inflation eased to 10.7 per cent in August 2025, down from 11.6 per cent in July, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said.

On a monthly basis, core CPI rose 0.1 per cent in August, compared with a 0.3 per cent fall in July and a 0.9 per cent increase in August 2024.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced a 200 basis point cut in interest rates during its Monetary Policy Committee meeting in August 2025.

The overnight deposit rate was reduced to 22%, the lending rate to 23%, and the main operation rate to 22.5%. The discount rate was also lowered to 22.5%.

The CBE attributed the decision to easing global and domestic inflation, improving growth outlook, and reduced external and fiscal risks.

Domestically, real GDP growth is expected to reach 4.5% in the 2024/2025 fiscal year, up from 2.4% in the previous fiscal year, while inflationary pressures remain moderate. The unemployment rate dropped to 6.1% in Q2 of 2025, compared to 6.3% in Q1 of the same year.

Separately, business activity across the Egyptian non-oil private sector continued to rise at the start of the year, extending the longest streak of expansion seen since late-2020. However, the expansion came amid easing demand conditions, with firms putting more work into clearing backlogs. Rising spare capacity resulted in cuts to staffing and purchases, while a slowdown in cost pressures contributed to the first drop in prices charged in five-and-a-half years.

The headline seasonally adjusted S&P Global Egypt Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) is a composite gauge designed to give a single-figure snapshot of operating conditions in the non-oil private sector economy. It is calculated from measures of new orders, output, employment, supplier delivery times and stocks of purchases.

The headline PMI was slightly below the 50.0 no-change mark in January, dropping from 50.2 in December to 49.8, to signal that operating conditions had weakened marginally. Upturns in business activity and stocks of purchases helped to elevate the PMI, but this was offset by decreases in orders and employment, and a slight improvement in supplier lead times.

Agencies