Central Bank of Egypt governor Farouk al-Oqda said that the Egyptian economy is getting better and that, contrary to rumors, the International Monetary Fund did not ask for the devaluation of the Egyptian pound.
In an interview with state-run daily Al-Akhbar published Saturday, he said, “There is no intention at all to make a gradual reduction of the value of the pound against the dollar and the basket of other foreign currencies during the upcoming period."
“After the election of President Morsy, and the start of the drafting of the constitution, we were able to restore the privilege of reserving the dollar at a fixed rate, which reflects the confidence of the West in Egyptian the currency, after we used to buy the dollar at a rate of a 20 percent increase from its current value," he said.
He added that the worth of the Egyptian pound is determined according to the rules of the market, and that both the state and the central bank would not interfere by lowering its value.
He expressed his belief that the Egyptian economy is getting stronger, pointing out signs which he said indicated that it was recovering from the economic crisis. Such signs included the fact that financial credit institutions such as Standard & Poor’s had stopped lowering banks’ credit ratings, and that rates of insurance on Egyptian bonds has decreased.
He also said that he has a good relationship with the presidency because he works for the sake of the country and refuses to shirk responsibility.
“President Mohamed Morsy is respectful and a patriot,” Oqda said. “He deals with everyone in accordance with the interests of Egypt, and I know he appreciates me, and I do the same.”
He added that he dealt with the former regime and president with his own conditions. “I asked not to get phone calls from the president or officials to interfere in my work, and I said I will resign immediately if this happens. I was one out of three officials, [with] whom Gamal Mubarak did not interfere in their work,” he said.
