CAIRO, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The capital of Egyptian Exchange (EGX) exceeded 1 trillion Egyptian pounds (about 56.5 billion U.S. dollars) for the first time in its history, official MENA news agency reported Thursday.
The EGX indexes collectively went up at the beginning of Thursday's trading amid purchase operations by investors.
The market's capital gained 6.3 billion pounds to exceed 1 trillion EGP, the report said.
Egypt has been facing economic recession over the past few years due to political turmoil and relevant security issues, which led to declining tourism and foreign investments amid growing budget deficit, inflation rate, and terror attacks.
To face economic challenges, Egypt started in late 2016 a three-year reform program including subsidy cuts, tax hikes and full floatation of the local currency.
Egypt's economic reform program is encouraged by a 12-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, half of which has already been delivered to the most populous Arab.
