Egypt’s Remittances Climb 20.4% to $13bn, Lifting Nine-Month Total to a Record $38.2bn
The Takeaway: Remittances from Egyptians abroad reached a record $38.2 billion in the first nine months of 2026, already 92.0% of the calendar-year high set in 2025. Growth has eased this year, yet the July to September quarter still came in 20.4% above a year earlier. In the 2025/26 fiscal year, remittances exceeded tourism revenue and Suez Canal receipts combined.
Egyptians working abroad sent home $13 billion in July to September, the first quarter of Egypt’s fiscal year, 20.4% more than a year earlier, the central bank said on Tuesday.
New fiscal year opens above the 2025/26 quarterly pace
The same quarter of 2025 brought in $10.8 billion, so the new fiscal year started with a gain of $2.2 billion on the year. A year before that, the bank’s November 2024 release put July to September 2024 inflows at $8.3 billion.
The quarter ran 9.9% above the 2025/26 fiscal year’s quarterly average of $11.8 billion. That fiscal year itself set a record of $47.3 billion.
July brought in $4.5 billion and August $4.2 billion, as set out here on 13 October. The release for the quarter gives no separate September figure.
Taking July and August from the quarterly total, or January to August from the nine-month total, leaves September inflows at $4.3 billion, on The Edge’s calculation from the bank’s rounded figures. June, the last month of the previous fiscal year, had brought in $4.2 billion.
Egypt’s remittance inflows, 2026 against 2025 (in $ billions)
| Period | 2026 | 2025 | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|
| July | 4.5 | 3.8 | 20.0 |
| August | 4.2 | 3.5 | 21.7 |
| July to September | 13.0 | 10.8 | 20.4 |
| January to September | 38.2 | 30.2 | 26.5 |
Levels and monthly and quarterly changes as published in the bank’s releases, rounded at source; the July to September 2026 level is given to the nearest billion. The monthly changes are the bank’s own, worked out before rounding, so they differ slightly from changes on the rounded levels shown. The January to September change is The Edge’s calculation, as the bank prints no rate for that period.
Nine-month total sets a record and nears 2025’s full year
January to September inflows reached $38.2 billion, which the bank describes as record inflows, against $30.2 billion a year earlier. That is a rise of 26.5% on The Edge’s calculation.
The nine-month total already equals 92.0% of calendar 2025’s $41.5 billion, a level the bank called an all-time high when it published the annual figure in February. It is $8.6 billion above the whole of 2024.
Matching the 2025 total would take $3.3 billion over October to December. In those three months of 2025, Egyptians abroad sent $11.3 billion, the gap between the bank’s annual and nine-month figures.
Over the 12 months to September, inflows came to $49.5 billion, on The Edge’s calculation from the fiscal year total and the two July to September quarters. That is $2.2 billion more than the record 2025/26 fiscal year.
Growth has slowed through the year. The bank’s cumulative rate for 2026 eased to 27.2% for January to August from 28.1% a month earlier.
The quarter’s 20.4% rise also trails the 29.6% recorded for the whole 2025/26 fiscal year. In The Edge’s reading, the slower rate reflects the higher base more than weaker inflows: each month of the quarter brought in more than $4 billion.
Remittance totals against the year before (in $ billions)
| Period | Total | Prior | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiscal year 2025/26 | 47.3 | 36.5 | 29.6 |
| Calendar 2025 | 41.5 | 29.6 | 40.5 |
| July to December 2025 | 22.1 | 17.1 | 29.6 |
| January to September 2024 | 20.8 | 14.6 | 42.6 |
Each row against the same period a year earlier, as published in the bank’s releases of 20 August 2026, 23 February 2026 and 25 November 2024; earlier periods may since have been revised.
Remittances outpace tourism and the Suez Canal combined
In the 2025/26 fiscal year that ended in June, remittances rose 29.6% to $47.3 billion, as the balance of payments release set out here on 12 October showed. That was more than twice the $22.8 billion that tourism and Suez Canal transit receipts brought in together.
The bank said the rise in remittances curbed the widening of the current account deficit. The deficit came to $22.5 billion for the year, against $15.4 billion a year earlier.
Remittances were equivalent to 73.0% of the $64.8 billion merchandise trade deficit. Tourism and the canal both grew as well, as the table shows.
Selected current account receipts, fiscal year to June (in $ billions)
| Item | FY26 | FY25 | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remittances | 47.3 | 36.5 | 29.6 |
| Tourism | 18.4 | 16.7 | 10.3 |
| Suez Canal | 4.4 | 3.6 | 21.6 |
As published in the bank’s balance of payments release for 2025/26.
The same release showed the balance of payments swinging to an overall surplus of $2.8 billion in 2025/26. Net international reserves, set out here on 5 November, reached a provisional $57.5 billion at the end of October.
Figures are from the Central Bank of Egypt’s remittance release of 10 November 2026, its earlier remittance releases of 13 October, 21 September, 20 August and 23 February 2026 and 25 November 2024, its balance of payments release for 2025/26 of 12 October 2026 and its net international reserves release of 5 November 2026; totals, shares and changes not attributed to the bank are The Edge’s calculations from its rounded figures.
Sources: Central Bank of Egypt, The Edge.
