Severe pressure put on Hisham Ramez, Governor of Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), pushed him to resign, more than a month before the end of his tenure and before the board of directors was supposed to finish its tenure on 26 November.
Ramez served as governor of CBE from 3 February, 2013, succeeding Farouk El Okdah, who resigned in January of the same year. Ramez’s mandate was scheduled to end on 26 November, the same day when the entire board of directors would end their mandate as well, for the board to be reshuffled.
Daily News Egypt has foreseen Ramez prematurely leaving CBE, based on interviews with many of his close colleagues, who claimed he did not want to stay in position and preferred to leave and not to take any public position again.
Ramez has been under a lot of pressure since he was appointed as governor, especially with regard to the foreign exchange market management and the foreign exchange reserves. The intensity of these pressures significantly increased since the beginning of 2015 when Ramez made several choices concerning the exchange market.
His decisions included measures to allow the pound fall against the dollar in the official market in February, where the price of the US dollar was decreased by 5 piasters to reach EGP 7.23.
At the beginning of July, CBE surprised the market with yet another increase of the dollar price against the pound by 20 piasters on two steps, bringing the price of the dollar to EGP7.8301.
Ramez followed this move by another similar one in October, where the pound was again depreciated by another 20 piasters, to bring the dollar to EGP 8.03, which is the highest price of the dollar against the pound.
This surprise move raised many question in the market, especially with regard to the timing.
Ramez also decided to cap the deposit of cash in US dollars in banks by $10,000 a day from individuals and companies and a maximum of $50,000 per month.
A few days ago, Ramez met with a number of CBE leaders. This meeting was far from being another usual CBE meeting and was more of an intimate casual gathering. This led many to believe that it was his farewell gathering, according to Daily News Egypt sources.
Ramez’s closeness to the political leadership and their commitment to keep him did not deter him from resigning after 32 months as CBE’s governor, especially in light of successes that took place during his tenure. He had professional management of the foreign exchange market and the foreign exchange reserve. Ramez was also able to take down the black market while committing to repaying Egypt’s foreign debt.
Union of Arab Banks and the Federation of Arab Journalists Mohamed Barakat granted Hisham Ramez the Visionary Leadership Award. Ramez accepted the award during the annual Arab Banking Conference held in the Beirut, Lebanon in November 2014.
Barakat said granting Ramez this award was due to his vital role in banking stability, market exchange, monetary policy, and banking reform. He also provided the Egyptian market with its needs of foreign exchange during three and a half years, despite the pressures and challenges he dealt with.
Barakat said Ramez was admired by everyone in the banking sector for his management of monetary policy and achievements in the Suez Canal certificates, as well as his successful management of relations with international institutions and the banking sector in Egypt.
Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Banks Wissam H. Fattouh said selecting Ramez for this award was to recognise his successful monetary policy he followed, earning confidence of international institutions in the Egyptian banking system and the Egyptian economy.
