Egypt will keep its customs exchange rate steady at EGP 16 per dollar for January, Finance Ministry said in a press release on Sunday.
“The decision is consistent with the currency price stabilisation in the past period,” the statement added.
Egypt began setting a monthly fixed customs exchange rate in January, following the floatation of its pound currency in November 2016. It has since been set every month.
The pound has remained roughly at the same level in recent months, trading at around 17.69 against US dollar on Sunday.
Thousands of importers have been caught out by the float, facing ballooning dollar debts after they had opened dollar credit-lines with banks.
Importers have also faces difficulty in pricing their imported goods in Egyptian pounds, calling the government to set a fixed customs dollar exchange rate to provide more clarity.
In late November, the ministry had announced that the customs dollar price for December would amount to EGP 16.
