Bank: Remittances from expatriate Egyptians hit $21.9bn

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) revealed today that the total value of remittances from Egyptians working abroad have amounted to $21.9 billion in the period from July 2017 to April 2018.

“Remittances from expatriate Egyptians would reach $26 billion during the current financial year 2017-18,” the bank said in an official statement.

Egypt’s financial year begins in early July and lasts until the end of June of the following year.

Read: The Egyptian Fantasia

In the financial year 2016-17, the bank added, Egyptian expats’ remittances reached $17.453 billion.

The bank pointed out that Egyptians abroad remitted $2.3 billion in April 2018 “only,” up from $1.7 billion during the same month last year.

Remittances have been increasing following the Egyptian pound flotation in November 2016. Before that, the US dollar exchange rate was doubled in the black market in comparison to its official rate in local banks.

According to official data, there are around 9.4 million Egyptians, out of Egypt’s 104.2 million total population, living abroad.