Al-Sisi: Egypt will only advance by breaking the dollar gap
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi ruled out devaluing the Egyptian pound against the dollar, saying, “Many people are asking for flexibility in the exchange rate and we are flexible in it, but when it comes to national security and that this will waste the Egyptian people, no.”
The Egyptian president’s statements come as Egypt is awaiting talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about the first review of the $3 billion financing program. Amid several demands from the fund that include the implementation of deals within the government offerings program, with real flexibility in pricing the Egyptian currency to ensure the success of the first review of the financing program.
Al-Sisi said during the National Youth Conference in Alexandria: “We are flexible in it… but when the issue is exposed to Egypt’s national security, and that the Egyptian people are lost… no, no, no, no.” “I speak seriously. I am talking about this issue on the air when the exchange rate affects the lives of Egyptians and may waste them. We do not sit in two places, we do not appreciate.”
And the president continued: “Even if these words contradict… even if these words contradict…” in a clear reference to the International Monetary Fund.
And he added: “I had arrived that the subsidies reach zero on petroleum derivatives, which happened because I came back again because of the high exchange rate, and you are approaching the exchange rate. Pay attention to getting you into a crisis in your imagination. Many of the services we provide are priced in pounds over the value of the dollar that you have received, in the matter of meat.” And poultry and fodder. If I am a producer of a commodity such as poultry, for example, if I bring the fodder from inside Egypt, I will not be affected much by the price of the dollar. Ok, what will the price of a ton of fodder be?
President El-Sisi said, “To all who listen to me, if we weren’t going to work to reduce the dollar gap… well, what did we do in the past years? We were opening more markets. We were buying dollars from the markets in order to preserve the dollar that is in the Central Bank. We were answering from the markets and increasing the volume of money.” The debt is on us.. We have not done this again. If we have to face this, reduce our import bill in dollars and supply our exports, I say there is a list of 150 products that will save about 30 billion dollars. We are already paying them now.
And he continued: “If we were not able as a government and businessmen, you would not know that there is someone who brings very, very simple products from abroad.
2023-06-15 03:32:00
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