CAIRO: Fitch Ratings has affirmed the ratings of the Egyptian banks with a “stable outlook,” the global rating agency reported late Wednesday.
The long-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of National Bank of Egypt SAE (NBE) and Commercial International Bank – Egypt CIB were affirmed “B,” with a stable outlook.
Meanwhile, Credit Agricole Egypt’s (CAE) support rating was held at 4 and its national long- and short-term ratings at “AA+(egy)” and “F1+(egy),” respectively.
The ratings of NBE, CIB and CAE reflect Fitch’s assessment that “the correlation between bank risk and sovereign risk will remain strong over the outlook horizon given exposure to domestic assets, including a sizable proportion of Egyptian government debt,” the agency stated.
It continued, “The operating environment for Egyptian banks remains challenging and was broadly unchanged in 2015.”
In June, Egypt’s long-term foreign and IDR were affirmed at “B” with a “stable outlook,” after being raised in December, from B-, the first upgrade since the January 25 Revolution in 2011.
The upgrade was mainly attributed to the government’s policy course designed to tackle serious structural weaknesses, Fitch said.