Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) governor Hisham Ramez said on Monday Turkey had not requested to redeem its $1 billion worth of deposit that was sent to Egypt during the rule of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, according to Youm7 newspaper. Following a meeting with ministers with economic portfolios, Ramez added that international accords should be respected in this regard, noting that the deposit has a maturity period of five years. Ismail Hassan, CBE's former governor confirmed earlier on Monday that Turkey would not be able to redeem its $1 billion worth of deposit till its maturity after four years. During Morsi's tenure, the Turkish deposit had been received by the CBE last year to shore up the country's foreign cash reserves. It has a maturity of five years and thus will be repaid in 2017. It is also with an interest rate below 1% and has a repayment period of 3 years. The former CBE governor has ruled out that the current political disagreement between Egypt and Turkey would harm the banking relations between the two countries even after Egypt's decision to expel the Turkish ambassador which made Turkey to retaliate. The former CBE governor has ruled out that the current political disagreement between Egypt and Turkey would harm the banking relations between the two countries even after Egypt's decision to expel the Turkish ambassador which made Turkey to retaliate. The Turkish chairperson of the Egyptian-Turkish Business Council Zuhal Mansfield said on Monday Egypt-Turkey business ties may be sluggish but will not cease despite deteriorating political relations between the two countries. "As Turkish and Egyptian business men and women, we know how to separate our ties from politics," Zuhal Mansfield said in a statement on Sunday. Political links between Egypt and Turkey have worsened since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July amid mass popular protests against his rule, he added. On Saturday, Egypt announced it was downgrading its diplomatic relations with Ankara, and expelled the Turkish ambassador over Erdogan's "provocative" criticism of Cairo, in the latest bout of escalation in tension between the two countries. In return, Ankara declared the Egyptian ambassador "persona non grata" and downgraded diplomatic relations to the level of charge d'affaires. It is worth mentioning that the Turkish Ambassador to Egypt H.E. Hussein Awny had inaugurated in June 2012 Turkiye Is Bankasi AS' first resident office in Cairo to represent an encouraging kick-off to boost the volume of investments between Egypt and Turkey.
