Despite the series of crises that surrounded the Egyptian pound against the dollar during 2022, the foreign exchange market is seeing a state of stability and complete calm in the first trading of the new year 2023.
Perhaps the most important thing in the history of the dollar and the Egyptian pound is the disappearance of the intensity and pace of speculation on the black market, following the recent wave of decline that began since the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund announced the approval of the financing package for Egypt.
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But the most important and thorny dossier included many stations during 2022, both in terms of the shortage of hard currency and the difficulties experienced by importers in supplying the dollar, in addition to the Central Bank of Egypt which lowered the rate twice exchange rate of the Egyptian currency, the first in March and the second at the end of the year last October.
Expectations indicate that there is an imminent turn in the crisis, and indeed, the Central Bank of Egypt has started granting approvals for the release of cargo stacked in Egyptian ports. According to the official spokesperson for the Egyptian Cabinet, more than $6 billion in assets have been freed up and the Prime Minister has promised that the crisis will disappear completely in the coming period.
The breaking through of the lines of goods that were being stacked in Egyptian ports, negatively affected the parallel market, as the supply of dollars for sale increased, which caused a drop in its prices to be exchanged at the beginning of the new year between the level of £28 and £30, compared with around £38 at the start of the last week last year.
In the official foreign exchange market, the highest dollar exchange rate at Al-Masry Al-Khaleeji Banks and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank reached £24.74 for buying, compared to £24.77 for selling. In 8 banks, led by Mashreq, the Development and Housing Bank, the dollar exchange rate reached £24.72 for purchases, compared to £24.77 for sales.
At the Central Bank of Egypt, the dollar exchange rate stabilized at £24.70 for buying and £24.79 for selling. At the largest banks affiliated with the Egyptian government, the dollar exchange rate at the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr recorded a level of £24.66 for buys, compared with around £24.71 for sells.
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As regards the exchange rate of the dollar against the Egyptian pound, the American paper was equal to approximately 15.77 pounds at the beginning of last year, but at the end of the year and with the movements of the Central Bank of Egypt, the dollar The exchange rate rose to £24.79, meaning that the Egyptian pound lost more than £9 of its value against the dollar, a decline of around 57%.
The beginning of the direct intervention of the Central Bank of Egypt in the foreign exchange market was during the extraordinary meeting held on March 21, when it decided to bring the dollar to the level of 18.28 pounds sterling. Since that time, the dollar’s price has taken an upward path, climbing to levels of 19.7673 pounds per dollar during the last week of last October.
The second intervention of the Central Bank of Egypt was in the foreign exchange market, when it decided on October 27, 2022 to raise the dollar exchange rate to the level of 23 pounds, and the dollar continued its rise, until it currently registers vault the £24.79 level, with the Central Bank.