Some banks have reduced the withdrawal and purchase limits to around $100 (Anatolia)
lowered Egyptian banks big again Limits of the clouds And purchases through electronic payment cards outside the country, in an effort to preserve foreign activitiesAnd help contain the violent currency crisis that the country has been going through since last March.
Commercial International Bank CIB-Egypt and HSBC Bank announced, according to the local economic bulletin “Enterprise” today, Tuesday, the reduction of monthly limits for withdrawals and purchases with debit and credit cards abroad.
Commercial International Bank has reduced monthly overseas withdrawal limits for most debit cards to £2,500 (about $101) from £5 to £30,000, depending on card type, while limits for international purchases by card have not undergone any changes, whether in person or via the Internet.
HSBC also reduced its monthly withdrawal limit to $1,500 per customer on all its debit and credit cards, down from the previous limit of $5,000, according to the bank’s website, and also imposed limits on card purchases. foreign exchange customers in person and through what. between 10-50 thousand pounds, depending on the type of card.
It is common for customers to use bank cards outside Egypt, whether for purchases or cash withdrawals, to obtain cash in the same currency as the country they are in, or to pay directly on purchases in transactions where payment is available directly through cards.
Last October the two banks, together with other banks, imposed limits on withdrawals, as the Commercial Bank set a ceiling for monthly international purchases of between £20,000-200,000. The bank has set weekly international withdrawals for credit cards at between £3,000 and £30,000.
HSBC also set a monthly cap on cash withdrawals of $5,000 for both debit and credit cards, while it did not set a cap on overseas purchases.
At that time, Banque Misr set the maximum cash withdrawal limit for credit and debit cards used abroad at between $500-1,500 per month, depending on the card type, while the bank set the monthly cap for purchases abroad using debit cards between $1,000-25,000.
First Abu Dhabi Bank has also reduced limits on cash withdrawals using overseas debit cards to £10,000, from £50,000.
These instructions are similar to what happened before the great pound sterling against the dollar at the end of 2016, and the third and second hurdle this year last October.
Experts expect the pound to see a 15% black market drop in the coming days to between £32 and 33 against the dollar, while the official price of the dollar settled at £24.75 yesterday.
The fund’s head of mission in Egypt, Vladkova Hollar, told Reuters on Monday that the fund will wait for Egypt to transition to a floating exchange rate after canceling its obligation to finance imports with letters of credit at the end of this month.
Last week, the fund’s executive board approved a $3 billion over 46-month financial aid package for Egypt, saying it includes a “permanent shift to a regime of floating exchange rates.”
(One dollar = approximately 24.75 Egyptian pounds)
