Moodys Downgrades Five Egyptian Banks On High Credit Risk

The credit agency, Moodys, downgraded 5 Egyptian banks from B3 to Caa1 on April 1, 2013.

VENTURES AFRICA Rating agency, Moodys Investors Services, downgraded the local currency deposit ratings of five Egyptian banks citing very high credit risk in the troubled country, it was reported at the weekend.

Ahram Online reported that the National Bank of Egypt was downgraded to Caa1 from B3, Banque du Caire to Caa1 from B3, Banque Misr to Caa1 from B3, Commercial International Bank to Caa1 from B3, and Bank of Alexandria to B2 from B3. This comes shortly after Moodys had relegated Egypts sovereign rating to Caa1, demonstrating reduced quality and very high credit risk.
According to Moodys, Egypt could fail to pay foreign debts within five years, saying the chance was 40 percent. Investors are anticipating official approval of a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with observers attributing the setback in the granting of the loan to Egypts continuing political uncertainty.

According to Ahram Online, Egypts $13 billion in foreign reserves is not sufficient to cover the cost of three months of imports. Moodys said progress in Egypts sovereign credit risk profile and operating setting could promote its bank ratings.

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