The customs dollar depreciated to EGP 16.25 from EGP 16.5 for one month starting on first of August, according to Minister of Finance Amr El Garhy.
El Garhy told Reuters that the decision to reduce the customs dollar price is consistent with the movement of the currency price down during the last period.
This is the first reduction of the customs dollar after fixing it for four months.
The customs dollar is used to calculate the value of the fees paid by the importer in local currency for the customs release of imported goods.
“The customs dollar is about 90% of the currency price in the market,” the minister said.
The dollar exchange rate in Egyptian banks has been between EGP 17.90 and EGP 17.95 per dollar in the last few weeks, down from EGP18.10 and EGP18.15.
Last week, member of the parliament’s Economic Committee Saad Badrawy suggested devaluating the value of the customs dollar for importing raw materials, but not ready goods, to revive the industry sector.
Four months of stabilisation in the value of the customs dollar at EGP 16.5 was due to the stability of the dollar price in banks operating in Egypt over the past period, and an attempt to control the fluctuation of the prices of goods and services, as the customs dollar is the price calculated that estimates the rate of customs duties and taxes on imported goods from abroad.
The customs dollar value changed according to dollar traded in banks, before the Ministry of Finance aimed to fix it recently, as there were demands from companies and importers of goods to stabilise the dollar price in order to prevent the fluctuation of prices of goods imported from abroad and also to prevent the fluctuation in accounts of the companies and their profitability.
