Egyptian currency drops against dollar
The Egyptian pound drops to 25.90 against dollar on Wednesday, its biggest one-day move since the central bank allowed it to fall by 14.5% on 27th October, according definitive Data.
It was about 24.70 to the dollar at the opening of the trading day.
State-owned Banque Misr said in a statement earlier on Wednesday “it was offering one-year savings certificates with a return of 25%, a move often indicating the central bank is planning a devaluation”.
Currency flexibility has been a key demand by the International Monetary Fund, which approved a 46-month, $3 billion financial rescue package in October.
Egypt had been seeking the loan since March, after the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine aggravated a foreign currency shortage, causing a sharp slowdown in imports and a backlog of goods in ports.
Egypt announced last week it had phased out a system of mandatory letters of credit for importers it imposed in February that further aggravated the import crisis.
The currency has weakened from 19.7 to the dollar in March.
africanews
