
Egyptian Pound, US Dollar notes.
Forward rates of a currency indicate its value in a future contract. This means that the EGP is expected to reach EGP 50.5 a year from now.
The current official USD/EGP rate stands at around EGP 31 in the official market and around EGP 50.54 in the parallel market, per parallelrate.org.
The Forward rate surpassed EGP 40 for the first time in March. It reached a new high at EGP 45 in October, as shown in data released by Al-Arabiya.
British bank HSBC projected the Egyptian pound to experience devaluation, reaching EGP 40-45 against the US dollar, during the first quarter of 2024, according to a report by the bank on Friday.
Egypt is currently experiencing a severe US dollar liquidity crunch. Approximately $20 billion in hot money fled the local market as investors sought higher interest rates elsewhere.
The government, in turn, announced a plan to collect $191 billion through 2026 by gradually expanding its initial public offering (IPO) program and introducing additional incentives for foreign investors, such as tax exemptions and golden licences.
In addition, Egypt's commitments under a $3 billion loan program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) involve implementing flexible regimes for both exchange and interest rates in alignment with private sector standards, enhancing the role of the private sector in the economy, and accelerating the pace of IPOs.
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