Egypt’s major FX firms collect EGP 3.5b since flotation

Egypt’s Al Ahly and Misr foreign exchange firms have collected 3.544 billion Egyptian pounds in foreign currencies since the Central Bank of Egypt began floating the exchange rate on March 6 until March 18, Amwal Al Ghad Arabic reported on Tuesday.

Al Ahly Exchange company has attracted 2.044 billion pounds following the central bank’s decisions, said the head Abdel Majeed Muhi El Din. The total amount continues to grow, with an additional 307 million pounds collected yesterday, he added.

Misr Exchange firm has conducted foreign currency transactions totalling 1.5 billion pounds in the same period, said its head Adel Fawzy, noting that the dollar represents 66 per cent of these transactions.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is committed to transitioning to a flexible framework to target inflation, while maintaining flexible exchange rate regime.

Unifying the exchange rate is essential to prevent a build-up of demand for foreign currency due to gap between official and parallel market rates, according to the report.