Cairo – Mubasher: The highest buying price for the US dollar was seen at EGP 16.1 at Faisal Islamic Bank early Friday, whereas the lowest selling price was seen at EGP 16 at Banque Misr.
Late Thursday, the greenback dropped below the EGP 16 mark, its first record drop since the floatation of the Egyptian pound against the US currency.
By 10:05 am Cairo time, the USD-EGP pair traded at EGP 15.95 for purchasing at Banque Misr, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), United National Bank (UNB), Credit Agricole, and Misr Iran Development Bank (MIDB), while selling prices ranged between EGP 16 and EGP 16.05 per dollar at these banks.
At the Commercial International Bank – Egypt (CIB) and Suez Canal Bank, the greenback recorded EGP 15.9 for buying and EGP 16 for selling.
The average buy price for the USD reached EGP 16.08 late Thursday at , the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), whereas the average sale price stood at EGP 16.21.
Analysts polled by Mubasher recently attributed the decline in the US currency against the EGP to the increased inflow of USD-denominated cash by foreigners investing in the Egyptian government's treasury bills and bonds added to a rise in USD supply.
They noted, however, that the decline was likely to be temporary.
On 3 November 2016, the CBE decided to float the Egyptian pound against the US currency so that the pricing is set by the supply and demand for the greenback.
The CBE had also decided to raise interest rates by 300 basis points.
