On 29 September 2026, CBUAE and the Central Bank of Egypt renewed their currency swap at AED 5 billion (equivalent to EGP 69 billion) for a further five years. This gives UAE companies trading with Egypt a five-year horizon to settle in AED/EGP without routing through the US dollar.
What was signed
The agreement was signed on 29 September 2026 at the headquarters of the Central Bank of the UAE in Abu Dhabi. Signing for CBUAE was Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama; signing for the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) was Governor Hassan Abdalla.
The nominal size of the line is AED 5 billion, equivalent to EGP 69 billion. The tenor is five years from the date of signing. It is a renewal of the original currency swap between the two countries, signed in September 2023 at the same nominal value.
Governor Balama said the renewal marks «a significant step forward in our efforts to promote greater use of local currencies in bilateral settlements, in line with international best practices». In the regulators' joint statement, Governor Abdalla highlighted that the agreement «is vital to enhancing the resilience of financial markets in both countries».
How a central-bank swap actually works
A central-bank swap is not a direct loan to business. It is a liquidity line between regulators. CBUAE and CBE have agreed to keep an agreed amount of each other's currency available, which they can draw on to supply commercial banks in their jurisdictions for trade and financial settlement.
For a UAE company this translates as follows. A UAE importer buying Egyptian goods normally pays like this: AED account → convert AED→USD → send via correspondent bank → convert USD→EGP → credit the supplier. Each conversion carries a spread, and the USD leg is exposed to global monetary policy. Through the swap corridor the payment can be made in a single conversion AED→EGP: the importer's bank draws EGP through the CBUAE line and settles. Fewer spreads, less FX risk, five years of planning visibility.
Trade context: UAE ↔ Egypt in 2025
Bilateral trade between the UAE and Egypt reached USD 9.7 billion in 2025 — a 62% year-on-year increase. Within that: Egyptian exports to the UAE were USD 7 billion (nearly doubling from 2024), UAE exports to Egypt were USD 2.7 billion. The UAE is one of the largest Arab investors in Egypt and a key partner in food and raw-material supply chains.
CBUAE swap network
This is not the UAE Central Bank's first swap. The current configuration of bilateral lines:
- Bahrain — AED 20 billion (April 2026).
- China — AED 18 billion (renewed with the People's Bank of China in November 2023).
- Turkey — AED 18 billion (2022).
- Egypt — AED 5 billion (September 2023, renewed on 29 September 2026).
The policy direction is clear: CBUAE is building a network of bilateral liquidity lines with key trading partners so that payments between their businesses can run in local currencies. This is one practical consequence of the UAE's broader economic-diversification strategy — where CEPA agreements open trade corridors, currency swaps remove friction in settling along those corridors.
What this means for UAE businesses
Practical implications for a company that trades with Egypt or has operating counterparties there:
- Five-year horizon. The swap runs through 29 September 2031 inclusive — making it possible to plan FX policy for several years, not quarter by quarter.
- Lower total FX margin. Direct AED↔EGP conversion in place of a double hop through USD — one fee instead of two.
- Less USD-cycle exposure. Local-currency settlement is less tied to global monetary policy and dollar-market conditions.
- EGP trade finance. UAE banks drawing on the CBUAE line can offer letters of credit, guarantees and working-capital finance in Egyptian pounds — particularly relevant for larger shipments of industrial equipment and agricultural goods.
Operationally the scheme sits with the company's commercial bank in the UAE. The CBUAE swap line is a wholesale channel; end-clients access it through their corporate account and transactional banking products. For how such accounts are opened and used in practice, see our deep guide «Corporate bank account in the UAE in 2026».
Attribution
Primary source — joint press release of CBUAE and the Central Bank of Egypt dated 29 September 2026, distributed by the Emirates News Agency (WAM). Facts and quotes are attributed to The National (29 September 2026) and the official statement of both regulators.
