National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) said on Tuesday that the earnings growth from its Egyptian unit NBK-Egypt will help offset any impact from the drop in the value of the EGP. But climbing inflation in the country will push up operating costs and spending in 2017 for NBK Egypt, the parent bank said in a statement. Since the EGP's peg of 8.9 to the dollar was abandoned last Thursday, the currency has taken its largest drop in a series of depreciations over the last 15 years. The move is expected to lead to a rise in inflation, already near 14%, driving up import costs further. However, since the move, customers had once again begun using banks to sell foreign currency, giving banks an opportunity to open credit documents for customers and reflecting positively on interests and profits, NBK said in its statement. NBK Egypt has 40 branches and recorded a net profit of EGP220.8mn (USD12.8mn) in 2Q16, up 40% Y-o-Y from EGP157.7mn in 2Q15. This represents around 5% of NBK’s group earnings, using the previous exchange rate of 8.9 (Arabian Business)   NBK: KWD0.60 as of 8 November 2016, Rating: Buy, FV: KWD0.70/share, MCap: USD11,271mn, NBK KK / NBKK.KW