The Executive Chairman of the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), Omar Radwan, affirmed that the Egyptian stock market acts as a mirror to the country’s economy.
He noted that proactive measures taken by the Egyptian government at the onset of the region’s geopolitical crisis since March enabled the Central Bank to play its role effectively, introducing strong exchange rate flexibility that successfully absorbed all economic shocks.
All of this significantly restored confidence among both local and foreign investors, he added, pointing out that Egypt’s foreign exchange reserves have surpassed US$50 billion.
In an interview with anchor Amr Khalil on the program “Men Masr” (From Egypt) broadcast on Al-Qahera News, Radwan added that the Egyptian economy managed to weather the impact of regional conflicts.
He continued: “We have witnessed tremendous momentum. Five or six years ago, daily trading volumes on the EGX hovered around LE 500 million. That figure rose to two billion LE the following year, then to five billion LE, and has reached LE 10 billion in the first half of this year.”
He further noted: “Recently, trading volumes reached LE 15 billion, climbing to LE 18 billion on Tuesday and LE 16 billion on Wednesday. We are living through historic days that the Egyptian market has never seen before.”
Addressing the global and domestic rise in gold prices and its potential positive or negative impact on the EGX and other stock markets, Radwan said that gold is one of several vehicles available to investors.
He emphasized that different investment instruments do not exclude one another, highlighting the importance of maintaining a diversified portfolio spread across a wide range of financial assets, including equities, as they represent a broad cross-section of economic sectors.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
