Egypt attracted 925 million investments in 3 days
2023.01.16 14:33
Egypt attracted 925 million investments in 3 days
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – According to a statement released on Monday by Egypt’s central bank, in the three days following the sharp depreciation of the country’s currency last week, foreign investors moved more than $925 million into the Egyptian foreign exchange market.
The Egyptian pound fell from 27.60 at the opening on Wednesday to about 32 to the dollar before rebounding to 29.61 pounds by the end of Monday.
The central bank statement added that additional foreign currency from local sources, remittances from Egyptians working abroad, and tourism also entered the market over the past three business days.
When Egypt agreed to receive a $3 billion aid package from the IMF in October, it promised to switch to a “durably flexible” exchange rate.
After Russia’s war in Ukraine raised its costs for wheat and oil and hurt tourism from two of its largest markets, Ukraine and Russia, a key source of hard currency, it turned to the IMF for help.
With the intention of allowing the currency to freely float, it has been easing its dollar peg in sporadic increments.
The central bank statement added that banks were able to fulfill more than $2 billion in requests from Egyptian importers over the past three days, in addition to requests from other clients.
After the central bank restricted imports in February, goods started accumulating in Egyptian ports. Since the central bank lifted those restrictions a month ago, importers have been scrambling for cash to get their goods out of customs.
As investors continued to return following the pound’s depreciation, auctions on Thursday and Sunday saw record sales of Egyptian treasury bills with a maturity of one year or less.
