Under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, CBE Governor participates in Alamein Africa Forum and speaks at high-level session on Africa’s growth prospects

Against the backdrop of Egypt’s vision to strengthen economic and financial integration with its fellow African countries, Hassan Abdalla, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), participated in the Alamein–Africa Business Forum, hosted by Egypt in New Alamein and opened by Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

The forum brought together several heads of state and government, senior officials, business leaders, representatives of financial institutions and the public and private sectors, as well as investors and businesspeople from across Africa.

On Saturday, the CBE Governor participated as a keynote speaker in a high-level session titled “A New Growth Pact for Africa in a Turbulent World”, alongside Dieratious John Ndege, Vice-President of Tanzania, and Cornel Karakezi, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re).

The session addressed the key challenges facing African economies and ways to promote sustainable growth and strengthen financial and investment integration across the continent.

At the start of his remarks, Abdalla said Africa needs to build trust, strengthen financial cooperation and create enough jobs to absorb the rapidly growing youth population, which he described as both the continent’s greatest opportunity and its most important responsibility.

He noted that around 12 million young people enter Africa’s labour market each year, while only about 3 million formal jobs are created. This underscores the need to provide young people with the education and skills required to become a driving force for economic growth rather than a challenge to it.

Against this backdrop, the Governor called on African countries to adopt stable and predictable economic policies, alongside clear economic frameworks and specific, measurable plans. Such measures, he said, would strengthen credibility and give investors and businesses greater visibility over future prospects, stressing that confidence in the economy is essential to attracting investment and achieving sustainable growth.

Abdalla also highlighted the importance of developing Africa’s financial infrastructure, noting that the continent needs stronger and more efficient financial markets, with a focus on facilitating access to finance, strengthening banking systems and developing more effective mechanisms for assessing African investments and creditworthiness.

He stressed the importance of improving the credit ratings of African countries and establishing an African credit rating agency, which would help African economies gain access to financing and investment sources on more efficient terms.

He also underscored the importance of boosting intra-African trade and cross-border financing, noting that a significant share of African capital leaves the continent for developed markets before returning at a higher cost. This, he said, calls for greater circulation of capital within Africa and maximising the use of the continent’s financial resources.