Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian pound (EGP) has become one of the world’s best performing currencies in 2019, supported by US dollar inflows, Bloomberg said on Tuesday.
Egypt received over $1.5 billion in inflows during the last week, the New York-based media company revealed.
Since its flotation in 2016, the EGP has been a popular currency among carry traders who are attracted by high yields on local bonds and the economic reforms undertaken by the incumbent Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Moreover, Societe Generale bank expects the pound to grow by 3.7% to reach EGP 15.35 against the USD.
The EGP is supported by the growth in the Egyptian tourism revenue, EFG Hermes noted.
According to Bloomberg survey of economists, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is expected to reduce interest rated to around 11.5% on Thursday.
In November 2019, the CBE decided to cut the current interest rates. The Overnight deposit rate and the overnight lending rate were lowered by 100 basis points to 12.25% and 13.25%, respectively, while the rate of the main operation was reduced to 12.75%.
