The National Bank of Egypt says it is earmarking 49% of its USD flows for the interbank market, with another 50% allocated to covering imports, said NBE chief Hisham Okasha in remarks to Al Masry Al Youm. The remaining 1% is in reserves at the central bank. NBE has managed to draw in USD 700 mn since the float, and has used USD 620 mn to cover imports. These have been primarily geared towards crucial goods such as meds and food, but the bank has also been covering imports of production inputs and capital goods, he added. With banks begin given the greenlight to begin supplying FX for non-essential goods, fears have begun to arise that there will be a massive drive to import them. Ahmed El Wakeel, head of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce has called on importers to stick to their the initiative announced earlier this month ahead of the float to curb non-critical imports in a statement picked up by Al Ahram. As we noted yesterday, Lamees El Hadidy had stoked these fears and questioned the federation’s commitment to the initiative following the CBE’s greenlight.