Banks will on Sunday reopen following the longest period of closure brought about by the 25 January revolution.
Meanwhile, Farouq al-Oqda, governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), will hold a meeting on Sunday to review bank transfers made from local to overseas banks during the the protests that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
An official source from the CBE denied news that it dumped US$4 billion of foreign currency reserves on the market to control the currency exchange rate and support the Egyptian pound against the US dollar.
In related news, the International Monetary Fund said the recent events in Egypt will likely raise the unemployment rate and therefore urged countries in the Middle East to give greater attention to development and providing aid to poor families.
In other news, the Consumer Protection agency (CPA) said that it has received 611 complaints related to subsidized products, with complaints about butane cylinders coming most prevalant, followed by food products and then bread.
In a statement, the CPA also said that the prices of mobile phone charge cards have also increased unjustifably.
Meanwhile, labor strikes at cement companies have lowered supply and caused prices to rise from LE500 to LE600 per ton, largely because some people used the recent events to carry out illegal construction.
Abdel Razeq al-Dessouqi, head of the commerce chamber in Alexandria, attributed the increase in the prices of building materials to what he termed a “thirst” for construction.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
