Cairo – Egyptian Central Bank released goods from ports valued about USD 5 billion, out of a total of USD 14 billion worth of goods stuck at ports in an effort to contain the inflation that hit the country due to the raw material shortage.
The Central Bank’s oversight mechanisms were able to monitor a group of illegal practices related to the market foreign exchange that aimed to destabilize the monetary and financial stability of the country in violation of the provisions of the law. The Central Bank monitor noticed the existence of a steady increase in the uses of credit cards and direct debit cards outside the country, despite the presence of customers for whom these cards were issued inside Egypt.
These transactions reached their peak last week, with amounts of up to USD 55 million in one day, an increase estimated at more than 5 times. compared to the daily average in the last quarter of the previous year, which indicates the misuse of these cards, and this required taking procedures and controls that prohibit the misuse of credit cards and direct debit cards for customers who prove not to have left the country, as well as tightening control over requests for foreign exchange for travel purposes.
The Central Bank announced the necessary measures will be taken in coordination with the concerned authorities to verify whether the customer has traveled or not.
The Central Bank also issued strict instructions to banks to take into account the setting of sufficient limits to meet the actual needs of customers in foreign exchange, especially for the purposes of education and treatment through cards, while maintaining the previous limits for customers who are abroad before the issuance of the new controls on December 22, 2022, as well as not adhering to any limits on customer cards. Those who have accounts in foreign currency and their uses are paid in the same currency.
Egyptians residing abroad
The Central Bank of the North African country monitored some trading goods inside the Arab Republic of Egypt in foreign currencies, in addition to monitoring violations in money transfers from Egyptians residing abroad, through illegal channels who are not authorized to carry out these transfers, in violation of the law.
Egyptian regulatory authorities have also monitored the establishment of some companies of a special nature outside the country that carry out mediation, especially in the fields of export and tourism, and aim to keep foreign exchange outside the country and deal with it outside the legal framework. In addition, some of these companies request the provision of foreign exchange from the Egyptian banking sector, despite their retention of accumulated proceeds of foreign exchange abroad, and in the event that this is proven, all prescribed procedures shall be taken towards those companies and their shareholders.
Translated by Georgette Merkhan & Guilherme Miranda