The official US dollar inflows have improved, two weeks after the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE)'s decision to float the Egyptian pound on the exchange market, CBE governor Tarek Amer said, stressing that the bank has regained its ability to finance foreign trade.
Since the floatation of the pound on November 3, banks in Egypt have so far secured US$2.6 billion as of Tuesday November 15, Amer told al-Borsa News website Wednesday.
Within the first week of the pound floatation, banks were able to secure US$1.3 billion, which means the figure doubled in the second week, Amer added.
Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmed Kojak said foreign investments in government debt instruments have risen between $700 and $900 million since the floatation of the pound, which is the highest record of foreign investments in government debt securities since 2012 when foreign investors liquidated investments of over $10 billion due to political unrest, according to Reuters news agency.
The banking sector suffered loss due to the lack of dollar liquidity during the last two years caused by the decline in tourism rates and Suez Canal revenues as well as remittances by Egyptian expatriates, which consequently led to an increase in the exchange rate of the US currency finally reaching LE18 to the dollar before the pound floatation decision was announced by the Egyptian government earlier in November 2016.
