Egypt moves to revive trading activities

According to media reports, Egypt’s Finance Ministry agreed to fix the customs dollar exchange rate at 18.5 pounds per dollar until the end of February to protect importers amidst the fluctuating exchange rates. Following that, the Ministry will revise the fixed level on a monthly basis.

Egyptian manufacturers had been calling for a fixed rate as they have had difficulty in calculating their costs and the price of their goods since the floatation of the Egyptian pound on November 3.
However, importers are not happy with the new rate as they think it is close to the levels at banks and it is also higher than their expectations of 10 pounds per dollar.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian government is preparing for new reforms including for the tax and customs system in order to pick up the faltering economy. In line with these plans, Egypt has also secured loans from several international banks, including World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to recover from economic difficulties.