Ghabour Auto President Raouf Ghabbour said his factories have been closed down since September 1 due to the Central Bank’s restrictions on foreign currency bank deposits, which damaged the automobile industry.
He said his clients filed complaints against him because of delays in repairing their cars. “We are unable to import spare parts because the central bank put a maximum for dollar deposits,” he said. “I haven’t found a single cent and the banks have not opened letters of credit for me since February,” he said.
He said the fair exchange rate for the dollar should be 10 Egyptian pounds. “All currencies of emerging countries fell by 50 percent against the dollar,” he said.
“Since 2011, industry ministers have changed several times before they could do anything,” he said. “Only in 2014 the government began to understand that supporting the automotive industry would add 16 percent to foreign currency resources.”
“The finance minister will not worry about a decline in customs revenues if the automotive strategy is applied especially if taxes would be increased,” he said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
