(3 minutes read)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi extended the appointment of Hassan Abdalla as Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) for another year. His term of office would now end on August 17, 2024. Abdalla succeeded the former governor Tarek Amer, who resigned from the position a year before the end of his term.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/egypt-registers-record-growth-in-tourist-arrivals/
Abdalla’s appointment comes amid an economic crisis in Egypt, marked by an internal currency shortage and global interest rate hikes. Those had impacted emerging markets, including Egypt. Foreign reserves grew by US$1.73 billion to about US$34.9 billion at the end of July 2023, compared to US$33.14 billion in the previous August.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/egypt-gets-promise-from-turkey-to-up-its-investments/
The exchange rate of the US dollar at the CBE increased from about LE 19.19 on August 18, 2022, to about LE 30.9 currently. This indicates a loss of around 37 percent of its value since Abdalla took office in August 2022. The dollar exchange rate reached LE 22.99 on October 27, 2022, the same day that the Monetary Policy Committee held an extraordinary meeting and decided to raise interest rates by 200 basis points.
Read Also:
The core inflation rates, which strips out certain volatile categories, soared to a record high of 41 percent at the end of June, then slightly decreased to 40.7 percent in July. The CBE struggled to control inflation rates amidst the decline of the Egyptian currency.
