By Nasser Youssef
President Mohamed Morsy has accepted the resignation of Central Bank Governor Farouk Al-Oqda, effective on 2 February, in accordance with articles 202 and 227 of the Constitution.
Morsy agreed to accept the nomination of Hesham Ramez as the new governor of the CBE, beginning 3 February, in accordance with article 10 of Law 88 passed in 2003. Ramez’s nomination is currently being presented in front of the Shura Council for approval. If approved, Ramez would serve as governor of CBE for the remainder of Al-Oqda’s term, until 23 November 2015.
An official from the CBE said that the decision to appoint Ramez meant that there would be no need to change the current Board of Directors, as he would simply be finishing the rest of Al-Oqda’s term and not serving a new one.
He added that if a decision had been made to appoint Ramez for a new four year term, that it then would have been necessary to restructure the bank’s Board of Directors.
Al-Oqda had tendered his resignation several times before, citing health reasons; a request that had been refused by the presidency and the Cabinet for fear of the negative effects it might have on Egypt’s economy.
The official criticised Al-Oqda’s performance over the last nine years, saying that he neglected and mistreated veteran workers while appointing foreigners to work in leadership positions.
“Al-Oqda had exempted many of these foreign workers from many of the CBE’s internal bylaws with regards to the level of credentials required for promotions,” said the source, adding that if the proper standards had been applied, then many of these employees would never have risen to the level of prominence that they currently hold.
He added that many of these foreign workers had been provided with rights and privileges not enjoyed by veteran employees.
He further went on to say that while Al-Oqda had signed “mouth watering” deals with foreign employees, veteran workers only saw their salaries increase three times during his term, usually only from anywhere between 10 to 15 per cent.
“The CBE’s new FX Auctions system that issues periodic auctions for the purpose of buying and selling dollars had not in fact been created by Al-Oqda, nor was the CBE’s corridor mechanism.”
He also criticised Al-Oqda’s performance in managing Egypt’s exchange rates after the breakout of the 25 January revolution, saying that his policies had led to the draining of Egypt’s foreign currency reserves. He added that Egypt was currently suffering through a critical economic stage, with its foreign reserves totalling just $15bn, $7bn of which came from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
