CBE Offers US$ 40 Mln To Local Banks At 30th FX Auction

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) offers US$ 40 million to local banks on Wednesday, with a maximum of US$ 6 million to each bank at its 30^th FX auction and the 14^th one since the appointment of Hisham Ramez, governor of CBE, sources said.

The maximum value of dollars offered at FX auctions was US$ 75 million, while the market requires US$ 110 million on a daily basis as stated by Mahmoud Fayez, former manager of the Federation of Egyptian Banks (FEB).

Ramez said in an interview on CBC channel that CBE reduced the value of dollars offered at auctions so as to meet the country’s requirements of main commodities imports.

The value of dollar witnessed a remarkable increase against the Egyptian pound since the implementation of FX auction mechanism at the end of 2012 as it surged EGP 0.44 to reach EGP 6.81, up from EGP 6.37. Then, the value of dollar began to fall against the Egyptian pound concurrently with the appointment of the new governor at the beginning of last February as the value of dollar dropped EGP 0.08 to register EGP 6.73 on the second day since Ramez assumed the responsibilities of the new position, but it rose again to reach EGP 6.77 this week.

The values that CBE offered in FX auctions under the leadership of Hisham Ramez are as follows: