Egyptian pound banknotes on a table in Cairo / March 6, 2024 (Khaled Desouky/Agence France-Presse)
He decided Egyptian Central BankToday, Monday, the daily maximum limit for cash withdrawals from bank branches was increased from 150 to 250 thousand pounds for individuals and companies, and from 20 to 30 thousand pounds from automated teller machines (ATM), in addition to updating the maximum limits policy for cash withdrawals. For foreign currencies For each bank, after its approval by the Board of Directors.
The dollar rose again against the Egyptian pound in official banks after the end of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, recording 48.80 pounds for sale on average, compared to about 47.65 pounds to the dollar at the end of last week, an increase estimated at 2.4%. The exchange rate of the rest of the foreign currencies against the pound rose at the same rate in banksExchange companies Its affiliates, while the parallel market maintained a relatively high price for buying the dollar, about 40 piasters (one pound = 100 piasters) higher than the official prices in banks.
The movement of buying and selling the dollar is governed by fixed rules from the Central Bank, which provides it to the banks according to the priority of procuring the dollar and hard currency for imports determined by the government, including food commodities, medicines, petroleum materials, and imports of public bodies.
The Central Bank of Egypt had obligated banks not to allow individual or corporate customers to withdraw cash amounts in local currency exceeding 150,000 pounds per day, except after the customer submits documents proving his need for the amount to be withdrawn, and obtains approval from the Central Bank. Through its decisions, the Central Bank aims to limit informal market transactions, after the significant rises witnessed in the price of the dollar before the recent floating of the pound, which has lost more than a third of its value since last March 6, following the government’s signing of a new loan with the International Monetary Fund. Worth $8 billion.
Before the Central Bank’s decision to devalue the currency and the significant increase in interest rates by 6%, the bank kept the official exchange rate for about a year at less than 31 pounds to the dollar, compared to a price that reached 68 pounds or more to the dollar in the parallel market. Under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, the Egyptian authorities were forced to gradually float the pound, which caused it to lose much of its purchasing value and exacerbated the living burdens that Egyptians have been suffering for years.