Egypt’s annual headline inflation hit its highest level in at least seven years to register 20.2 percent in November 2016 compared to 11.8 percent for the same month last year, state statistics body CAPMAS said in an e-mailed statement on Thursday.

Egypt's central bank signed a bilateral currency swap with People’s Bank of China (PBC) for 18 billion yuan against the equivalent EGP, the bank said on Tuesday.

The Egyptian pound average exchange rate closed at EGP 17.9 against the US dollar in Egypt's Banks on Wednesday, the lowest since the national currency was freely floated earlier this month, according to the websites of four major local lenders.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved on Friday a three-year, $12 billion loan for Egypt to help the country recover from its deep economic crisis, the fund said in a statement.