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A policeman guards a branch of Commercial International Bank (CIB) on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt November 13, 2016. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
CAIRO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The board of Egypt's Commercial International Bank (CIB) has recommended a cash dividend of 0.50 Egyptian pounds ($0.0265) per share, it said on Wednesday after reporting a 27 percent rise in net income for 2016.
The CIB board also approved a Tier 2 capital loan of up to $300 million, the bank said in a bourse statement, adding that the float of the Egyptian pound Nov. 3 had resulted in a fall in the value of its assets and commitments in foreign currencies amounting to 325 million pounds ($17.38 million).
Egypt's largest listed company said despite tougher regulation and challenging economic conditions its full-year consolidated revenue hit a record 11.3 billion Egyptian pounds ($604.28 million).
The company had reported a 34.8 percent rise in its fourth quarter net income to 1.55 billion pounds and a 27 percent increase in its annual net income for 2016 to 6 billion pounds, it said in a statement late on Tuesday.
Egypt faces a foreign currency shortage since a popular uprising in 2011 drove away its key sources of foreign currency, tourists and foreign investors.
The central bank had been keeping the pound artificially strong at 8.8 per dollar and had been rationing its reserves, prioritizing the imports of essential goods. On Nov. 3 it floated the pound in a sudden move and raised interest rates.
($1 = 18.7000 Egyptian pounds)
(Reporting by Asma Alsharif, editing by Louise Heavens)