Egypt will raise the customs dollar exchange to 17 pounds from 15.7, for two weeks effective from March 16th, Minister of Finance Amr el-Garhy announced Wednesday. The new rate will be applied starting this weekend until the end of March in line with foreign exchange rates in use at banks, el-Garhy told Reuters. Egypt began setting a monthly fixed customs exchange rate in January following the flotation of its pound currency in November and has since moved to set it every two weeks. On Tuesday, the ministry said it would revise the rate again, the same day that the U.S. dollar strengthened against the pound for the first time in nearly a month to register an average of 18 pounds, according to central bank data. In early February, the pound's official exchange rate climbed from 18.5 to 15.7. Accordingly, Egypt's finance ministry lowered the customs dollar rate twice last month, first to 16 pounds then to 15.75, to reflect the leap in the pound's value against the greenback.
