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Tuesday, 28 May 2019

Egypt could lower discounted customs exchange rate to EGP 15 on 1 June

The government could slash the discounted customs exchange rate to EGP 15 from EGP 16 from 1 June on the back of the recent strengthening of the EGP against the greenback, an anonymous official told Youm7. The EGP hit fresh two-year highs against the greenback last week, breaking the EGP 17 / USD 1 barrier for the first time since March 2017. The government scrapped last December the discounted customs rate for non-essential imports — including tobacco, pet food, mobile phones, and cosmetics — but kept the lower rate in effect for strategic and essential goods.

The EGP rally continues to gather pace: The EGP has gathered significant momentum against the USD in recent weeks, gaining 5.7% against the USD since the start of the year and breaking the EGP 17 barrier to reach 16.9317. The rally picked up steam this week, with the CBE average EGP-USD market rate closing at 16.8872 yesterday. Pharos head of research Radwa Elswaify told us earlier this week that USD inflows into government bonds and increasing tourism receipts are behind the recent appreciation.

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