(AFP Photo)
The price of the US dollar to the Egyptian pound increased 8% by the beginning of 2013, according to the most recent quarterly report released last May by Gleeds, an engineering consulting firm.
The report stated that this was part of a gradual increase in the price of the dollar, which rose 3% by the end of March 2013. Other indicators pointed to the fact that such an increase may continue, predicting the dollar could reach EGP 8.1 by the end of this year.
The report further stated that the price of the Euro increased 12% since January 2013, adding however that this had decreased by 2% midway through the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
Steps currently being taken by the Central Bank of Egypt to rein in and curb inflation were also discussed, including decisions made to increase interest rates to 9.75%, up from 9.25% in November 2011.
The report further showed that Egypt’s foreign currency reserves had decreased from $15.37bn in December 2012 to $13.53bn in March 2013.
The Egyptian stock market also experienced swings in trading during the first quarter, with indicators for the EGX 30, a list of Egypt’s 30 most traded companies which previously dropped to 5,000 points in 2012, increasing to 5,870 points in January 2013. However by the end of the first quarter this number had decreased to 5,200 points, as a result of changes made in Egypt’s political and economic policy.
Egypt’s consumer price index increased 5.36 points from 125.7 in December 2012 to 131.06 in February 2013. This was attributed to increases in the exchange rate and food prices.
