By: Mahmoud Salah El-Din
Cairo - Mubasher: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has approved US dollar debt restructuring for companies with an interest rate of 12%, with a time limit of two to seven years.
The governor of the CBE, Tarek Amer, said in a meeting with a number of investors who were affected by the Egyptian pound's flotation that no factories will be closed and that no companies will be sued due to freeing the exchange rates.
The vice chairman of the Egyptian Union for Investors Associations, Moharam Helal, said that the meeting with the CBE reached an agreement to restructure obligations in USD.
The meeting launched a committee of four consultants to review and solve the problems of the companies that were hurt by the flotation with the deputy governor of the CBE, Gamal Negm.
The committee will hold its first meeting next week, according to Helal.
Chairman of Assuit Investors Association Ali Hamza, who also attended, said that they agreed on activating the initiative to support and finance small- and medium-sized enterprises, and to facilitate business loans.
The general secretariat of the 10th of Ramadan Investor Association, Ayman Reda, told Mubasher that these decisions help investors face the problems and challenges that came as a result of the flotation.
Reda also noted that the CBE promised to apply these decisions on all Egyptian banks, with companies asked to file their requests within 15 days, and after that debts will be calculated as per the exchange rate on the date of settlement in USD. After that, companies will pay in Egyptian pound.
