According to the circular, CBE instructed the banks to disclose the details of clients who fail to transfer the proceeds of the gold exported from the Egyptian market within seven days from the shipment date.

CBE directed the banks to give clients a grace time of three days to meet the requirements of shipment details disclosure and to transfer its proceeds which are collected in US dollar.

In the event that the client fails to transfer the proceeds, CBE will send details of the client to the banks to ensure excluding him from making any similar transactions in the future, according to the circular.

Banking expert Ahmed Shawky explained to Ahram Online that such  measures aim to support the Egyptian pound against the US dollar through providing gold export proceeds within only seven days of the export process.

Shawky noted that before issuing the circular it took longer to provide gold export proceeds.

“Such a step will have an impact over the medium term, alongside other measures the government has adopted recently, including the creation of the supreme committee for commodities pricing as well as setting a purchase limit of only $100 per month on banking cards abroad”, Shawky added.

He expected that the effect of such measures would be felt in the market by the beginning of FY2023/2024, which starts in July, with no room for the Egyptian pound to restore the strength it gained prior to the onset of the war in Ukraine.

Prior to the breaking out of the war in Ukraine in March, the US dollar was traded in the local market at below EGP 16.

However, the Egyptian pound lost over 50 percent of its value since March after the CBE partially floated the currency on two separate occasions to attract hard currency.

Egypt’s gold exports grew in the first nine months of 2022 by 34 percent to record $1.1 billion, up from $839 million recorded in the same period of 2021, according to recent data published by Egypt’s Export Council for Building Materials, Refractory & Metallurgy Industries.