US dollar prices witnessed a decline on Wednesday morning, recording an average of LE17.80 after hovering around 17.90 on Monday and Tuesday morning.
According to the last price updates, the dollar price declined by one piaster in Banque Misr recording LE17.77 for purchase and LE17.87 for sale. In Banque du Caire, the dollar declined by three piasters recording LE 17.82 for purchase and LE17.92 for sale.
In the Commercial International Bank (CIB), the dollar declined by two piasters recording LE 17.83 for purchase and LE17.93 for sale.
In Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), the dollar declined by two piasters, recording LE17.83 for purchase and LE17.93 for sale.
In ALEXBANK, the dollar declined by two piasters, recording LE17.82 for purchase and LE17.92 for sale.
In the National Bank of Greece (NBG), the dollar declined by three piasters to stand at LE18.82 for purchase and LE18.92 for sale.
In the Arab African International Bank (AAIB), the dollar declined by two piasters to record LE 17.82 for purchase and LE17.92 for sale.
Finally, the dollar settled at the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) as LE17.78 for purchase and LE17.88 for sale.
On Tuesday, Egypt’s Finance Minister Mohamed Maeet announced that the exchange rate of the customs dollar will continue to be fixed at the current rate of LE16, in the month between August 1 and 31, 2018. The Finance Minister mentioned that the exchange rate of the customs dollar is around 90% of the US dollar exchange rate prevailing in the banking market.
The exchange rate of the pound to the dollar rapidly increased in 2016-2017 following efforts to comply with International Monetary Fund’s regulations, through stringent economic reforms. In a statement on the IMF website, the organization assures that this inflation was “anticipated”, as it “reflected the effects of increases in electricity and fuel prices, the VAT, and pass-through from the exchange rate depreciation”.
The statement notes that “inflation has been on a declining trajectory since its peak last summer”, with annual headline inflation declining from 33 percent in mid-2017 to roughly 11 percent in May, “anchored by interest rate hikes and other well-considered measures taken by the Central Bank Egypt (CBE)”.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
