Banking expert Tarek Metwally, former vice president of Blom Bank Egypt, said that the package of measures taken by the Central Bank of Egypt during the current period, which began with raising the interest rate by 3%, followed by the release of all goods in ports, the return of work with collection documents, and the implementation of the flexible price decision for the dollar, is a good step. To eliminate the black market for the dollar, indicating that during the coming period we will witness a significant stability of the exchange rate after the ups and downs during the past days.
In a special statement to Al-Dustour, Metwally confirmed that the issuance of savings certificates with a return of 25% led to the absorption of financial liquidity in the markets, and alleviated consumption and pressure on the dollar, as institutions, companies and dealers sold dollars in order to buy the certificates, indicating that The next step will include structural reform of the Egyptian economy and relying on local production, manufacturing and export to maximize foreign exchange resources.
He explained that the application of the flexible price of the dollar is a positive factor on foreign investment, after supply and demand became the main player in determining the price of the dollar, which led to the disappearance of the two prices and the inevitable elimination of the black market, and this will lead to more transparency and reduce speculation on the dollar, and achieve balance in the market. An expected growth in the volume of foreign investments during the coming period.
In the same context, banking expert Hani Aboul Fotouh said that the measures of the state and the central bank were able to contain the inflationary crisis that the global market is going through, which affected all markets, indicating that the decision to offer savings certificates with a return of 25% and 22.5% achieved its goal after the arrival of The initial proceeds of the certificates amounted to 155 billion pounds in less than a week, after large institutions purchased the certificates and dealers converted the dollar to the pound to buy the certificates.
And he added that the recent package of measures by the Central Bank contributed to increasing the dollar revenues of Egypt and not putting pressure on the dollar, expecting more stability in the currency exchange rate during the coming period, noting that the release of goods accumulated in ports contributed to a relative decline in demand for the dollar.
And the banking expert added that the Central Bank put forward a financing initiative of 11% for the industrial and agricultural sectors, with allocations amounting to 150 billion pounds, aimed at increasing the volume of production, supporting local manufacturing, increasing the local component, localizing the industry, and increasing job opportunities, and this will lead to growth in the indicators of the Egyptian economy.
He said that the currency trading market between banks “interbank” increased in recent days after the application of these measures, and this gave banks new mechanisms to provide foreign exchange, as each bank is allowed to have only 10% of its portfolio in dollars, and this leads to a clearing procedure between Banks and some of them to sell the dollar and allow the exchange of foreign exchange surpluses.
Aboul Fotouh said that there is a great demand for treasury bills for a period of 3 months that were offered by the Central Bank of Egypt in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, with a return of 21%, which led to attracting a new segment of foreign investors to invest in debt instruments, and this led to an increase in the dollar proceeds of the Central Bank, praising recent structural monetary policy reform.