(AFP Photo)
The British sterling skyrocketed in the parallel market Monday, reaching EGP 12 for purchasing and EGP 12.10 for selling, while the euro increased to EGP 9.90 for purchasing and EGP 10.6 for selling.
Exchanges officials attributed this rise to the decreasing supply of foreign currency in the market coinciding with a jump in demand, especially from importers and some businessmen, with one saying, “Banks currently do not satisfy the exchanges demands of foreign currency, which incentivizes some to save the foreign currency.”
An exchange official in Amoun For Exchange, an exchange services company with offices in Cairo, stated: “Banks ceasing to cover the exchanges requests of foreign currency and specifically US dollars and euros, resulted in exchange rates jumps within the last weeks”. He forecasted a further appreciation in exchange rates as long as the required liquidity is not available.
Traders fear the recurrence of last year’s liquidity crisis, which depreciated the Egyptian pound by more than 15%, and required an urgent intervention by the Central Bank, which sold large sums of foreign currency.
US dollars in exchanges Monday ranged between EGP 7.27 and EGP 7.30 for purchasing and EGP 7.32 and EGP 7.35 for selling, while for banks, it was recorded EGP 6.90.
Haitham Abd El-Fattah, treasury official at the Egyptian Bank for Industrial Development and Workers, stated: “There is a rise in demand on foreign currency by importers especially for US dollars.”
Translated from Alborsa newspaper
