Ahmed Shiha of the Cairo Chamber of Importers, is expecting commodity prices to rise by at least 10 percent due to the successive rise in the dollar exchange rate, which went up 20 piasters over the past two days alone.
“Egypt imports food commodities and raw materials,” Shiha said. “Their prices are affected by the dollar exchange rate.”
He said the prices of already stocked commodities will also rise because importers will need more money to buy new stock.
“The central bank's policies meant to eliminate the black market but could not,” he said.
Salwa al-Antary, former head of the National Bank of Egypt’s research department, said the new VAT tax will also raise commodity prices.
“The Consumer Protection Authority is unable to protect consumers from market monopolies,” she said, calling for more customs duties on the imports of commodities not used by the broad sector of the Egyptian people, and for new policies to encourage local production.
Mohamed Hanafy, executive director of the Chamber of Metallurgical Industries, said the dollar exchange rate is rising amid rumors that Central Bank Governor Hisham Ramez's tenure is ending soon.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
