The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) provided banks operating in the Egyptian market with another $120m on Tuesday to cover the import of requested food commodities.
This move comes within the framework of the bank’s readiness to meet the market’s requirements for food commodities before the beginning of Ramadan. The CBE held its regular weekly auction for selling the dollar to banks on Tuesday.
The CBE demanded that banks that received US dollars from this auction must direct them to cover importers’ requests for food commodities only, said Haitham Abdel-Fattah, director general of treasury at the Industrial Development and Workers Bank of Egypt (IDBE).
He added that the CBE provided the $120m at a price of EGP 8.78 to the US dollar, which is the same rate that was provided by the CBE in March.
This is the second consecutive auction this year, which is directed to cover the value of the imports of food commodity requests.
The CBE also provided $120m as an exceptional auction to banks last Thursday.
CBE’s deputy governor Gamal Mohamed Negm said the bank directed the entire value of the auction to the import of basic food commodities, in preparation for the holy month of Ramadan when the rate of consumption of these goods typically increases.
