We publish the price of the dollar today, Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at the Central Bank of Egypt, according to the latest developments in foreign exchange rates.
The price of the dollar in the Central Bank of Egypt today was as follows:
Buy: 48.29 pounds.
Sale: 48.42 pounds.
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Egypt will meet on May 23 to decide the interest rate.
The Central Bank of Egypt decided to cancel the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on March 28, after holding an extraordinary meeting of the committee on March 6, 2024, and issuing decisions to raise interest by 600 basis points and allow the trading of foreign currencies, most notably the dollar, according to market mechanisms (supply and demand).
In continuation of the monetary restriction policy followed by Al-Masry, the Monetary Policy Committee decided in its extraordinary meeting to raise the overnight deposit and lending interest rates and the Central Bank’s main operation rate by 600 basis points to reach 27.25%, 28.25% and 27.75%, respectively. The credit rate was also raised. The discount is 600 basis points, reaching 27.75%.
The Egyptian economy was one of the most resilient economies and continued to grow during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the positive trend accelerated in 2022 when GDP was estimated to have grown by 6.7%, although growth slowed to 4.2% in 2023.
The country has faced challenges represented by high inflation and imbalances in its balance of payments. Despite these problems, fiscal support has maintained private consumption, which is expected to gain momentum as inflation declines and household consumption has remained resilient, supported by controls on energy prices, food subsidies, and… Of financial packages.
On the other hand, business investments have contracted sharply, which is attributed to increasing financial constraints and increasing uncertainty, with a gradual recovery expected and the International Monetary Fund forecasting growth to reach only 3.6% this year before rising to 5% in 2025.
In recent years, Egypt has implemented an economic reform program that includes measures to adjust public finances, freedom to trade foreign currencies in accordance with supply and demand mechanisms, and significant reductions in subsidies.
The budget for the fiscal year 2023/24 expects a strengthening of the primary surplus, reaching 2.5% of GDP, compared to 1.6% in the previous fiscal year. However, the budget deficit is expected to reach 4.6% of GDP in 2023, due to Primarily due to high debt servicing costs.
The government’s strategy involves reducing untargeted energy subsidies and large-scale food subsidies, while at the same time expanding targeted cash transfer programs towards the most vulnerable groups.
Public investments, including self-financed investments by public bodies, are expected to increase significantly in the 2023/2024 financial year: in particular, in October 2023, the government announced increases in public sector wages and pensions, along with adjustments to On personal tax exemptions Therefore, the latest IMF forecast indicates a budget deficit exceeding 10% over the expected horizon.
The ratio of public debt to GDP rose from 88.5% in 2022 to 92.7% in 2023, although the share in the hands of external lenders represents only about a third of GDP and the exchange rate has shown minimal fluctuations since the beginning of 2023. After a series of currency devaluations that saw the Egyptian pound lose nearly 50% of its value against the US dollar since early 2022.
The government continues to supervise the exchange rate and impose restrictions on some foreign exchange transactions. The OECD called on the Egyptian authorities to continue to combat inflation (at 23.5% in 2023) by keeping monetary policy tight and restricting public investment projects that are not urgently needed.
The unemployment rate reached 7.1% in 2023, according to International Monetary Fund estimates, with female unemployment being about four times higher than male unemployment, and after a slight rise to 7.5% this year, it is expected to return to about 7.1% by 2025. Estimates indicate Three-quarters of all employees receive their wages as informal workers, and 29.7% of the population live below the poverty line and 4.5% live in extreme poverty, a percentage that has been decreasing in recent years (Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics – latest available data). Finally The International Monetary Fund estimated per capita GDP at US$17,123 in 2023.
Agriculture contributes 10.9% of Egypt’s GDP, and employs 20% of the active population, according to the latest World Bank data. This sector has been historically important for Egypt, as it represents about 20% of total exports and foreign exchange earnings. The country owns 3.9 million hectares of agricultural land and 45,000 hectares of agricultural land. Only from forests according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
The warm climate and abundant Nile waters allow for many annual crops and the main crops are cereals, cotton and sugarcane. The country is also a major producer of long-staple cotton, which is used in the textile industry according to the latest official government figures. Egyptian agricultural exports saw a 15% rise in the first 10 months of In 2023, reaching 4.3 billion US dollars.
Egypt’s non-oil industry is still fairly limited and with automobile and steel manufacturing, cotton farming, textile production, and the construction industry, the secondary sector represents 32.7% of GDP and employs 29% of the workforce.
In general, the manufacturing sector alone represents 16% of the GDP, while the mining industry represents only 0.5%, but it is a strategic sector that lies at the heart of the country’s development plan, as the government aims to increase its share of the GDP to 5%. Over the next two decades, despite economic diversification efforts, the country still depends on the Suez Canal for a large portion of its foreign income. The total production of all petroleum products in Egypt will reach 74 million tons in 2023, of which 28 million tons are crude oil and more than 45 million tons of gas, according to a report by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. In the same year, Egypt signed 29 agreements worth $1.2 billion for oil and gas exploration.
Finally, the services sector represents 52.2% of the Egyptian GDP and employs more than half of the population (52%) and is largely dominated by revenues from the communications and tourism sectors. According to official government figures, Egypt attracted about 13 million tourists during the first nine months of 2023. Tourism revenues are expected to reach nearly $14 billion by the end of the year, an increase of 15% year-on-year.
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