Emirates NBD Global Chief Economist and Head of Research Tim Fox follows up on the PMI results by saying Egypt is starting to see the benefits of the “bold step” of devaluation in terms of improved confidence, inflows into the country, and export orders looking “pretty firm.” Fox tells Bloomberg TV the EGP will consolidate over the course of the year. Growth will naturally start to recover and will be buoyed by a healthier export environment, but it will be a slow process. There will not be an immediate turnaround on the employment front, he cautions, “the employment picture will change with quite a significant lag when you start to see a more persistent trend of improvement in activity … but it will take place over time as long as policies are maintained that promote stability” (05:33).

Meanwhile, the EGP weakened further yesterday as demand for imports ahead of Ramadan picked up, Reuters reports. Banks were selling USD for EGP 16.85-16.9 per USD 1, weaker than the rates of EGP 16.1-16.2 quoted last week. "Now is the time for importers to make the orders for Ramadan so demand has risen over the past two weeks," one banker told Reuters, adding that demand for USD began piling up again at banks.