Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) granted on Monday a tender of US$40 billion and offered it for auction to banks operating in the local market.
Raouf Kedwany, head of treasury and capital markets sector at the Export Development Bank of Egypt (EDBE), described granting exceptional and periodic tenders of foreign cash as ‘good indicator’.
He also added that granting the tenders regularly refer to absence of crisis in dollar resources.
Meanwhile, a prominent CBE source said the recent increase of the foreign cash reserve reached US$18.9 and is expected to reach US$20 billion by end of this month, depending on Arab financial aid and deposits by the Gulf countries.
The source also added that both Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates are ready to pump in more in order to support Egyptian economy.
He also referred to CBE insistence on putting end to the black market. Net foreign reserve at CBE is enough for only imports of three coming months.
Since December, CBE has been achieving new mechanism of granting periodic tenders to purchase or sell US dollar. The mechanism is being used in several countries. It targets keeping the foreign cash reserve and rationalizing it.
Total amount of tenders granted by CBE reached US$4.034 billion through periodic tenders, in addition to US$2.9 billion through non-periodic tenders including US$1.3 billion this month and US$1.6 in April and May.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
