Franklin Templeton, a global leader in asset management with 70 years of experience, said that the Egyptian economy has been successful in achieving growth rates despite the sharp fall in most economies worldwide.
The Managing Director, Director of Research, Director of Portfolio Management, Frontier and MENA at Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity group Bassel Khatoun said the Egyptian pound was able to show the stability of its exchange rate, backed by bringing inflation rates under control and strong international reserves of the Central Bank of Egypt.
Khatoun’s remarks to this effect came during a virtual international conference for directors of portfolios and international investment funds in Dubai city last week.
He said the investment bank was overweight on Egypt as well, as the economy continued to grow in an environment where most economies contracted sharply.
“Its currency has also remained largely stable supported by a combination of controlled inflation and solid international reserves. Although low liquidity has been a challenge for the market, strong fundamentals and increasingly attractive valuations contribute to support our positive view,” he said.
Khatoun added that the strong fundamentals of the economy and the attractive valuations of the Egyptian market support a positive vision of investment in the Egyptian market, despite low liquidity that posed a challenge to the market.
He pointed out that the wise public lock-down policies and the intensive operation to launch vaccines globally contributed to the return of normal daily life in the Middle East and North Africa, and are likely to accelerate the economic recovery in the region.
Khatoun pointed out that crucial financial and economic reforms, along with a timely injection of liquidity, will boost GDP growth in 2021 to 2.7 percent in the Middle East and North Africa.
He expected the economies of the MENA region to witness stronger growth in 2022 to 3.8 percent, with the rise in crude oil prices and implementation of spending plans for ambitious projects to continue this upward trend.
