By: Mahmoud Salah El Din
Cairo – Mubasher: The governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Amer, on Thursday said that there will be no changes to using credit cards abroad.
“There will be no changes in this regard,” he told Mubasher via phone.
A CBE official previously said that the bank had issued instructions to local banks to monitor and regulate credit card payments outside Egypt. He said that the CBE did not ask that transactions be halted.
The move aims to fight the sharp decline in Egypt’s foreign currency reserves, on the back of declining tourism, exports and remittances to the country.
Net foreign reserves reached $17.52 billion by the end of May 2016, down from $36 billion before 25 January 2011, CBE data showed.
On Wednesday, Reuters cited an unnamed CBE official as saying that the bank had sent “a letter to bank chiefs…to stop the use of debit cards outside the country. As for credit cards it is business as usual and each bank sets their own limit for their clients.”
"Please ensure that debit cards, including pre-paid cards, issued in local currency by Egyptian banks are only used within the country," the letter, viewed by Reuters, said.
Translated by: Nada Adel Sobhi
