Hassan Abdalla, the newly appointed acting governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), has met with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who has asked him to develop the country’s monetary policy to keep pace with global economic changes and to work on the provision of various works sources of foreign exchange and create a suitable investment climate.
Abdalla will also deal with many other pressing matters, including coordination between fiscal and monetary policies, the local currency’s exchange rate against the US dollar, interest rates and controlling inflation.
Other acts complete negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, achieve quick fixes for import crises, meet factory needs for production requirements, and maintain foreign exchange reserves.
President al-Sisi decided last Thursday to appoint Hassan Abdalla as governor of Egypt’s central bank, succeeding Tarek Amer, who resigned and was appointed advisor to President al-Sisi.
In his first meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Hassan Abdalla confirmed that there will be full cooperation and coordination with the government on a set of joint acts, noting that the relationship between the two sides will be characterized by harmony in order to Goals to achieve and plans for sustainable development of the Egyptian state.
Abdalla said: “Our goal is one and the same, which is the interest of the Egyptian state in the face of these global challenges.”
According to Tarek Metwally, former vice president of BLOM Bank Egypt, it was natural for President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to instruct the acting central bank governor to focus on developing monetary policy, providing various sources of foreign exchange and creating a suitable climate for investments because of the direct and rapid impact of these files on the business community and the state as a whole, and stressed the importance of these files, on which the Central Bank has been working since the first moments of Hassan Abdalla’s assumption of responsibility.
Metwally pointed out that in addition to these three files, the acting Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt has other important files that go beyond maintaining the banking sector and creating strong and competitive entities, at least in the Middle East, if not worldwide. noting that a comprehensive overview of the situation in the Egyptian banking sector must be available for at least the next ten years.
He stated that for this sector, considered the backbone of Egypt’s economy, to continue to exist, a process of financial and administrative restructuring and development must take place in a large number of banks, mergers and acquisitions and the entry of new players into the market.
Metwally stressed the importance of the central bank, under its new leadership, using all of its tools to get the banks to pump more investment and money into the arteries of the economy, and to make real profits that flow from real activity in the economy Aside from employment, banks issue government debt.
According to Metwally, there is another dossier that is no less important, namely financial inclusion, which he says is not yet sufficiently anchored on the ground and requires more work and effort, and points to the importance of this dossier in changing life of the citizens and in the service of the banks and the economy.
Metwally also stressed the importance of integrating monetary policy with fiscal and trade policies and other policies that govern the work of economic activity, so that one policy does not affect the other and cause conflict between them, ultimately leading to the failure of government goals to be achieved .
It is noteworthy that Hassan Abdalla was President of United Media Services and before that CEO and Vice President of the Arab African International Bank (AAIB).
Abdalla, born August 1960, received a Bachelor of Business Administration from American University in 1982 and a Master of Business Administration from the same university in 1992.
He started his career in 1982 at AAIB, the first multinational bank in Egypt, working in various sectors including money and futures markets.
In 1988, Abdalla transferred to AAIB’s New York City office to manage the treasury portfolio and hedging policies for a year before returning to Cairo. In 1994 he was promoted to Assistant General Manager.
Abdalla served as Director General of AAIB from 1999 to 2002. He was then appointed Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of the bank. During this period, the entire banking sector experienced great financial suffering and difficulties due to bad debts and weak infrastructure, prompting the 2003 banking reform plan to be launched.
He played a key role in the approximately EGP 240 million merger of Misr America International Bank and Arab African Bank, which was announced in May 2005 as the first private sector experience of its kind in Egypt. It contributed to the strengthening of the AAIB and its dissemination in the local banking market.
After the 10-year acquisition, Abdalla managed to lead the bank to acquire Canadian Bank of Nova Scotia’s portfolio in Egypt in 2015.
Abdalla has served on the boards of several companies including the Institute of International Finance, Emerging Markets Advisory Council (EMAC), Central Bank of Egypt, Egyptian Exchange, Ghabbour Auto, Coca-Cola, Endeavor Egypt, Telecom Egypt and Orascom Construction.
He was also a faculty member at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and a member of the Strategic Advisory Board at AUC’s College of Business Administration.
Comments are closed.