Cairo – Mubasher: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has asked banks to send a notification before taking any measures to secure foreign currencies for government bodies, according to a statement released Wednesday.
The CBE sent a statement to banks telling them that they must get the CBE’s approval before providing foreign currency to any economic authorities, bodies, or public sector companies, including their suppliers and contractors.
The CBE did not set a minimum for foreign currency deals.
The decision came based on directives issued by prime minister Sherif Ismail, the statement showed.
In November 2016, the Egyptian government decided to float the Egyptian pound as part of an economic reform programme required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which approved on 11 November to provide Egypt with a $12 billion loan over three years.
On 2 March 2017, a local banking source said that the CBE had approved the decision to allocate around $420 million to cover companies’ foreign exchange differences, which resulted from the flotation.
