Sources in the Federation of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) said it is about to submit a memo to Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Khaled Hanafy to reply to Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) governor about not cancelling his decision issued in February about putting a maximum for dollar deposits by $10,000 daily, and $50,000 monthly.
The sources said companies are suffering from the long procedures required to obtain dollars from banks, which forces them to obtain them from the black market by prices up to EGP 8.4.
FEDCOC demands cancelling the decision, which is considered the main reason behind the wave of inflation, especially food products.
“We do not import luxurious goods; most of the goods we import are important food products that do not have replacement in Egypt, such as oils and dairy,” according to one official in the importers division at FEDCOC. The total value of luxurious goods does not exceed $600m out of total imports of $65bn.
FEDCOC president Ahmed El-Wakeel criticised CBE’s policy in regard of the maximum for deposits and demanded that it be cancelled.
Exchange firms said Saturday that there is a decrease in the dollar’s supply, which made the black market’s presence stronger in the past two days, after CBE’s decision to decrease the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound against the dollar by 10 piasters on Thursday.
An official in the division of exchange firms at FEDCOC criticised exchange firms for the increase in the dollar prices against the pound: “CBE is the one to be questioned about the increase, under its recent decisions”.
He said exchange firms are not part of the black market but part of the official market of the Egyptian banking system.
Exchange firms have concerns about imposing more restrictions by CBE on them in this period and expanding closing cases, which adds tension in the exchange market.
Another official in the Arabian Exchange Company said the dollar price on Saturday was EGP 8.27 for buying and EGP 8.25 for selling, and that there is a significant decline in the dollar’s supply.
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, expects the stability of the dollar exchange rate against the pound this week would mainly depend on CBE not to devaluate the pound once more.
He said the decrease of the cash reserve to $16.3bn, and the government’s trend to borrow, significantly contributed to decreasing the dollar’s supply in the market in the last two days.
