The monetary policy plan was presented to the Economic Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives by Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) governor Tarek Amer.
The economic reforms in the plan follow a comprehensive path adopted by different ministries in coordination with the CBE, parliamentary sources told Daily News Egypt.
Amer ruled out floating the pound for now. However, he highlighted the negative effects that will result from the adopted economic reforms. “Keeping things as they are now is impossible,” he said.
The US dollar has recently risen against the Egyptian pound on the informal market, registering EGP 11.7, with expectations that it could reach EGP 12.
In a meeting earlier in June, members of the parliamentary Industrial Committee had urged the CBE’s deputy governor Gamal Negm to secure dollars for companies so they would not resort to the parallel market, thus causing the US dollar exchange rate to rise which would then result in further price hikes.
The total foreign exchange reserves at the CBE registered $17.5bn as of the end of June.
Sources said that Amer did not address the issue of Egypt’s intention to seek loans from the International Monetary Fund during the meeting.
“The session only discussed the CBE’s monetary policy in the coming period and the coordination with different entities,” they added.
