The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said that the dollar has fallen against the Egyptian pound by 84 piasters since the beginning of 2019.
The CBE explained that this decline in the United States currency was supported by the increase in foreign exchange flows in the Egyptian market from multiple sources.
On Monday, the exchange rate of the dollar depreciated by 5 piasters and, on Tuesday, settled at EGP 17.0114 to buy and EGP 17.139 to sell.
The average dollar price on Tuesday was EGP 17.0306 to buy and EGP 17.1306 to sell.
The US currency neared EGP 17 down, as bank officials stressed the presence of strong flows of foreign currency in the Egyptian market during the last period.
The CBE official estimated the amount of foreign exchange received by banks since the beginning of the year at $24.7bn.
Chairperson of Banque Misr, Mohamed El-Etreby, said on Tuesday that his bank alone received some $5.3bn since the beginning of 2019.
SHUAA Securities Egypt has issued a report confirming that the exchange rate of the pound is one of the current most uncertain variables.
The report pointed to the multiplicity and complexity of factors associated with the exchange rate, including long-term structural factors, and other issues which are often subject to the policies of the CBE and the monetary policy committee.
It added that it was not long before the pound was floated in November 2016, allowing for a long-term study, providing sufficient historical data or making the currency pattern predictable, confirming that the attempt to predict the behaviour of the Egyptian pound is similar to predicting the future or gambling.
According to its analysis, the exchange rate of the pound is slightly below its real value, but close to the fair value of the exchange rate against foreign currencies.
In the long-term, structural economic factors, including the chronic trade deficit, current account dynamics, the completion of the monetary easing cycle, and possibly increasingly severe global conditions in the future will all place pressure upon the pound.
