Dollar and Egyptian pound (iStock)
Egyptian Central Bank
Stability of the exchange rate of the dollar against the Egyptian pound in the official market
Cairo – Khaled Hosni
Published on: September 20, 2023: 12:44 PM GST Last updated: September 20, 2023: 02:07 PM GST
Before the upcoming meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Egypt scheduled to be held next Thursday, a state of calm and stability has dominated the dollar exchange rates in the official market.
On the other hand, the state of confusion witnessed in the parallel market has escalated since the beginning of last month after the violent decline in the exchange rate of the American green note from a level approaching 42 pounds to the level of 39 pounds at the present time.
On platforms that follow exchange rates on social media, the number of posts asking about the possibility of the Central Bank of Egypt making a new devaluation of the pound against the dollar during the next meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee has increased.
This comes at a time when recent reports warned of continued pressure on the Egyptian pound. A few days ago, the credit rating agency Fitch revealed that the Egyptian government’s success in implementing the IPO program will directly lead to alleviating pressure on the Egyptian pound, which has lost more than half of its value against the US dollar since the first quarter of last year.
The agency said that pressure on the currency may ease if the government succeeds in selling assets to external investors, thus stimulating foreign capital flows to Egypt. It expected that the government would rely on the sale of assets to finance pending import orders amounting to $5.5 billion.
But at the same time, she indicated that selling state assets faces challenges, as the government collected $1.6 billion at the end of last July, while it must collect another $4.6 billion by the end of 2024. She stated that achieving the goal requires improving transparency and perhaps a new devaluation of the currency to attract investors, as well as To control imbalances in Egypt’s external balance. The agency ruled out Egypt’s commitment to a fully flexible exchange rate without sufficient flows.
In the official market, the exchange rate of the dollar against the Egyptian pound stabilized at the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr at the level of 30.75 pounds for purchase and 30.85 pounds for sale, and at the Commercial International Bank, it recorded a level of 30.85 pounds for purchase and 30.95 pounds for sale. At the Central Bank of Egypt, the dollar exchange rate stabilized at 30.84 pounds for purchase and 30.93 pounds for sale.
While the euro witnessed slight declines against the Egyptian pound, as it stabilized at the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr at the level of 32.84 pounds for purchase and 32.99 pounds for sale. At the Central Bank of Egypt, the European currency exchange rate stabilized at 32.89 pounds for purchase and 33.00 pounds for sale.
The British pound recorded a level of 38.05 pounds for purchase and 38.22 pounds for sale at the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr. While the Central Bank of Egypt recorded about 38.21 pounds for purchase and 38.34 pounds for sale.
As for Arab currencies, the Saudi riyal exchange rate recorded 8.19 pounds for purchase and 8.22 pounds for sale. The exchange rate of the UAE dirham was about 8.38 pounds for purchase and 8.39 pounds for sale. The Kuwaiti dinar exchange rate recorded 98.97 pounds for purchase and 99.87 pounds for sale.
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2023-09-20 08:44:00
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