Following Tarek Amer’s unexpected departure, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi named Hassan Abdalla as acting governor of the central bank on Thursday, according to the presidency.
Amer announced his resignation on Wednesday, a little more than a year before the end of his term and with the nation stuck in a currency crisis.
Foreign investors withdrew billions from Egypt in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the central bank allowed the currency to fall by roughly 15% in March and continue to deteriorate over the past few months.
Abdalla headed the state-owned media behemoth United Media Services, and initial reactions to his appointment were favourable. From 2002 to 2018, he served as managing director of the Arab African International Bank in Cairo.
He was among the bankers and government representatives that backed the liberal economic policies that were put in place in the early 2000s.
According to a statement from the president, Sisi ’emphasised the necessity to create monetary policies in line with global economic variables and endeavour to supply diverse sources of foreign dollars.’
Additionally, he emphasised ‘the need to work on creating the right environment for investment.’
Abdalla assumes the interim role as Egypt seeks new finance from the IMF, which stated earlier this month that Egypt needs to make ‘decisive progress’ on structural and fiscal reform in order to support higher exchange rate volatility.
Former Commercial Worldwide Bank (CIB) Chairman Hisham Ezz al-Arab hailed Abdalla as ‘logical’ and ‘understands the international market.’
Post Your Comments