Egyptian traders and investors said on Tuesday that the prices of commodities will not change in the wake of the decision of the Ministry of Finance to adhere to the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) dollar exchange rates rather than the customs exchange rates.
Starting September, the ministry freed the customs exchange price of the dollar on all kinds of imports subject to the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) dollar exchange rate. The rates will be determined on a daily basis according to CBE’s rates rather than on a monthly basis according to the exchange rates announced by the Customs Authority.
Member of Egyptian Federation of Investor Associations Alaa al-Saqty said that the decision was sound and asserted, “The difference is not big between [the banking and the custom dollar exchange rates] and will only increase prices by 0.5 percent, which is very small and will not have any effect on any commodity.”
The customs price of the dollar was LE16.6230 on Monday, up from LE16.6203 on Sunday, according to the dollar exchange rates announced by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
Egypt fixed the customs price of the dollar for imported commodities at LE16 starting June 1, excluding non-essential commodities that the ministry listed as subject to the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) dollar exchange rate of LE16.86 on May 30. The mentioned non-essential commodities include caviar, shrimp, lobster, ornamental fish, alcoholic beverages, pet food, cosmetics, tobacco products, flowers, domestic industry products, shoes, furniture, passenger cars, motorcycles and tuk tuks.
Edited translation form Al-Masry Al-Youm
Al-Masry Al-YoumSeptember 3, 2019
