Bloomberg Egypt Signals Currency Policy Shift With Payment of Foreign Dues Egypt's new central-bank Governor Tarek Amer sought to restore investor confidence battered by five years of political unrest by paying foreign investors the money owed to them in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising. The central bank said Tuesday it paid $547.2 million, clearing the backlog of funds that it hadn't allowed sellers of stocks and bonds to convert into foreign exchange earlier. While that immediately eases the dollar crunch, the move by Amer in the first week of his tenure also signals he's readying for a more liberal currency policy, the investment-banking unit of the country's biggest listed lender said. "It definitely signals more liberal foreign-exchange management in Egypt," said Hany Farahat, a Cairo-based senior economist at CI Capital Holding, a subsidiary of Commercial International Bank Egypt SAE. "It's a significant positive catalyst, after a few months of none." TASS Egyptian ambassador to Russia hopeful Russian aircraft flights to Egypt will be resumed Egypt's ambassador to Russia Mohammed Al-Badri has expressed hope that flights to Russian aircraft to Egypt will be resumed. He was speaking at a news conference on Tuesday. The diplomat reiterated his deep condolences "on behalf of the Egyptians, Egypt's leadership, the government to the Russian society, above all, relatives of the victims of the Russian plane crash."
