Why are some companies continuing to rely heavily on the parallel? CEOs polled by Al Mal admitted that they still source anywhere between 15-100% of their FX through the parallel market. The most commonly cited reason is the inability of the banking sector to meet the requirements of importers in a timely manner. Mohamed Shokry, CEO of Misr Food Additives (which claims to source 30% of its FX from the parallel market), tells the newspaper that while banks have been dishing out USD, it is not enough to meet their import schedules. “Banks take 70 days to make the FX available,” said Hassan Mabrouk, GM at Universal Group. The issue doesn’t appear to be universal as companies such as DBK Pharma and Eva Pharma have acknowledged there was some inconvenience, but that these have largely been resolved with the latter stating that they completely rely on the banking system for FX. “it’s a case by case issue,” said a banking official. While demand is high, USD inflows from investment and the eurobond issue will help stabilize reserves moving forward, the official added.

Meanwhile: Picking up where we left off yesterday, the Finance Ministry has fixed a customs exchange rate of EGP 18.5 per greenback from today and until the end of February, Al Borsa reported. Minister Amr El Garhy had announced at a Sunday press conference that the government would be setting a fixed exchange rate each month using a reference rate set the previous months as a guide.