Egypt’s second largest bank, state-owned Banque Misr has collected around $3.3 billion since the flotation of local currency in November 2016 until July 2017, vice chairman Akef El Maghraby said Saturday.
The money includes remittances from expatriate Egyptians, El Maghraby further told Amwal Al Ghad.
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided in November to float the Egyptian pound and raise key interest rates as part of a set of reforms aimed at alleviating the dollar shortage, eradicating the black market, and stabilising the country’s flagging economy.
Following the central bank’s decision to float the Egyptian pound and raise key interest rates, Banque Misr announced offering 18-month certificates of deposit at 20 percent and three-year certificates of deposit at 16 percent.
“The bank had opened letters of credit worth around $5.5 billion to meet import payments over the past 8 months (following the pound floatation),” Banque Misr official said.
