Egypt’s second biggest bank, state-owned Banque Misr has raised around 110 billion Egyptian pounds ($6.05 billion) from its high-yielding certificates of deposit launched after currency floatation on Nov. 3rd, an official said Thursday.
The country’s central bank decided earlier on November 3rd to freely float the pound and raise key interest rates as part of a set of reforms aimed at alleviating a dollar shortage and stabilising the national flagging economy.
On the same day of announcing floating the pound, Banque Misr has started offering 18-month certificates of deposit at 20 percent and three-year certificates of deposit at 16 percent.
“We opened letters of credit worth around $2 billion to meet import payments since pound float move,” Banque Misr vice chairman Akef El Maghraby further told Amwal Al Ghad.
The bank has collected around $1.750 billion since the floatation of the currency.
