Parallel market traders are carrying out their transactions abroad, “beyond the reach of the law” amid the government crackdown on them and the prison sentences introduced, Reuters’ Asma Alsharif and Marwa Rashad write. Their source for foreign currency: expatriates before they ever enter Egypt. "Once you introduce these strict capital controls you create a big crisis in the currency market that incentivises evading the banking system entirely which is why 90 percent of remittances reportedly are not going to the banking system, which is why exporters are disincentivised from bringing their money back … They are worried they won’t be able to move it later so why not just keep it somewhere else," Timothy Kaldas, non-resident fellow at TIMEP, says. Another challenge exacerbating the situation is coming from some exporters, who, according to Alsharif and Rashad, are now finding it more profitable to sell USD they earn to importers domestically who are struggling to find foreign currency liquidity. “The transactions take place abroad and the foreign currency never enters Egypt,” they explain.