SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt - 1 September 2022: Egypt is the third biggest and strongest economy in the Arab region, said Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks (UAB) Wissam Fattouh on Thursday.
 
Highlighting the resilience of the Egyptian economy, Fattouh added that Egypt came in the third position after Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
 
Fattouh's remarks came during a speech he delivered Thursday during the proceedings of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Forum organized by UAB, in cooperation with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
 
The Egyptian economy recorded high growth rate in six years, he said, adding that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Egypt stands at about dlrs 436 billion.
 
The foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in Egypt have increased along with the revenues of Suez Canal, he went on to say.
 
During his speech, Fattouh affirmed that money laundering has an adverse impact on global economy.
 
The estimated amount of money laundered globally last year was about $2 trillion, he went on to note.
 
The UAB gives top priority to abiding by laws and international legislation, especially those related to combating money laundering and financing terrorism, he affirmed.
 
The three-day forum is also organized by Federation of Egyptian Banks, Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Combating Unit (EMLCU), Saudi Arabia's Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS), the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) concerned with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).