The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is to print LE 500 million of one pound banknotes by the beginning of Ramadan, say prominent banking sources.
The sources have said that CBE never stopped trading in one pound notes, but stopped printing them in favor of the equivalent value coin.
Speaking to the privately-owned daily, Al-Watan, the bankers attributed the return of the banknote to a need in the local market. In February, the newspaper reported that CBE was mulling the reprinting in order to preserve the value of the local currency and to bolster it. Money printing has a knock-on effect on the economy, they said, as well as being done routinely to replace and renew damaged banknotes.
The reprinting of the 1LE banknote will add value to the Egyptian pound, the sources said, adding that printing currency has to be done in accordance with the bank's annual plan. The reprinting of the pound will therefore be included in the bank's plan before June.
Banking expert Mohamed Salah said that introducing the printed pound once again to the market will reinforce the local currency, given the decline of its purchasing value recently due to the US dollar surge, among other factors. The pound coin, or "silver coin" as it is popularly dubbed, does not give value to the currency, Salah said, and welcomed the reprinting of the banknote.
Nevertheless, money printing, admitted Salah, incurs high costs and paper notes are more easily damaged than metal coins.
