File Photo: A man counting Dollars. Photo: Al-Ahram
The dollar traded between EGP 50.35 and EGP 50.37 for buying and between EGP 50.45 and EGP 50.47 for selling across eight banks, including Arab International Bank, Suez Canal Bank, and QNB Bank.
State-owned lenders Banque Misr and National Bank of Egypt traded at EGP 50.37 for buying and EGP 50.47 for selling, while Banque du Caire quoted the currency at EGP 50.38 and EGP 50.48.
The lowest exchange rate reached EGP 50.30 for buying and EGP 50.40 for selling at Crédit Agricole, the Commercial International Bank (CIB), and Bank of Alexandria.
The Egyptian pound’s gain comes after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) unlocked $1.8 billion of fresh financing upon the completion of Egypt’s seventh review for the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the second review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). This followed the European Union’s (EU) disbursement of $1.7 billion to Egypt under its macro-financial assistance programme.
The IMF financing reflects Cairo’s economic resilience from regional war spillovers. Meanwhile, the US is holding off on launching new strikes on Iran if a new peace deal is reached soon and the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.
According to the Central Bank of Egypt, the pound traded at EGP 50.34 for buying and EGP 50.48 for selling, gaining by EGP 0.73 or 1.43 percent from Thursday’s COB rates of EGP 51.07 and EGP 51.21, respectively.
The Egyptian currency has depreciated by EGP 1.6 or 3.3 percent since the reignition of the US war on Iran last month.
The currency has depreciated by almost EGP 2.5 or 5.2 percent in value on Sunday since the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran, compared to its pre-conflict level of EGP 47.99 against the US dollar. This is still an improvement from the loss of EGP 3.2 or 6.7 percent in value on Thursday.
Other currencies depreciate
The euro weakened against the Egyptian pound, trading at EGP 58.03 for buying and EGP 58.20 for selling on Sunday, compared to EGP 58.60 and EGP 58.77 on Thursday.
The currency is now trading about EGP 1.6 above its pre-conflict closing rate of EGP 56.63 recorded on 26 February, two days before the outbreak of the war.
The British pound followed a similar trajectory, trading at EGP 67.86 for buying and EGP 68.06 for selling, down from EGP 68.42 and EGP 68.60 on Thursday. The Sterling remains nearly EGP 3.1 above its pre-conflict level.
Gulf currencies also weakened against the Egyptian pound. The Kuwaiti dinar traded at EGP 163.59 for buying and EGP 164.09 for selling on Sunday, down from EGP 165.97 and EGP 166.47, respectively, on Thursday.
The Bahraini dinar dropped to EGP 133.9 on Sunday, down from EGP 135.85 on Thursday. The Omani rial fell to EGP 131.13 from EGP 133.03, while the Jordanian dinar traded at EGP 71.30, down from EGP 72.33 on Thursday.
According to CBE data, Gulf currencies have appreciated by between almost EGP 0.65 and EGP 7 against the Egyptian pound since 28 February.
Gold prices continue to decline
The gold sovereign (geneih dahab) fell by EGP 280 to EGP 47,200 on Sunday from Thursday’s rate of EGP 47,480, according to gold trading platform iSagha.
Meanwhile, 24-karat gold traded at EGP 6742.75, dropping by EGP 40 from Thursday’s EGP 6,782.75.
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