Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has issued Decree No. 346/2023 reappointing Hassan Abdalla as the Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) for a second one-year term, starting August 18th, 2023. The Decree has been published in the official gazette. On August 18, 2022, the Egyptian President appointed Abdalla as the Acting Governor of the CBE, succeeding Tarek Amer. While Egypt has been facing challenging times since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war that drove an exodus of foreign capital from emerging markets, Mr. Abdalla has led successful talks with several international financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF). As a result, the North African country has managed to reach a 46-month $3 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement with the IMF on October 27, 2022. Under his leadership, Egypt's net international reserves have grown by 5.2 percent, or US$1.735 billion approximately, to reach US$34.878 billion at the end of July 2023, compared with US$33.143 billion at the end of July 2022. Abdalla's tenure has witnessed stable, resilient banking system, launching a crackdown on black market, fixing the exchange rate system, and assisting the state in orchestrating more initiatives to support tourism, manufacturing, and help national companies in default to rise again. Prior to his appointment in the CBE, Abdalla has been the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the Arab African International Bank (AAIB), Chairperson of the Union Des Banques Arabes Et Francaises (UBAF) in Hong Kong, and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of We Owe It to Egypt Foundation (WOTE). He commenced his career at the AAIB in 1982. He then moved to the bank's New York City branch in 1988 and was promoted in 1994 to Assistant General Manager, and later to General manager in 1999. In 2000, he was named as the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the AAIB. Abdalla has also served on the Boards of Union Des Banques Arabes Et Francaises (UBAF) in Paris, the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Emerging Markets Advisory Council (EMAC) of the Institute of International Finance, and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
