Huawei increased its smartphone product prices for the second month in a row last week, after the US dollar price increase against the Egyptian pound. According to the price list of August obtained by Daily News Egypt, the increase ratio varied between 4% and 4.5% last month. According to the price list, the price of the Y3C increased from EGP 600 last month to EGP 625, the price of the Y5II increased from EGP 1,310 to 1,370, and the price of the P9 increased from EGP 5,910 to EGP 6,180. The price of the P9 Plus went up from EGP 7,560 to EGP 7,890, an increase of 4.3%, while the Mate 8 Standard price hiked from EGP 5,790 to EGP 6,060. Some devices registered a price rise of 11% during August, since they were not increased last month. The price of the MediaPad M2 Normal Edition increased from EGP 3,085 to EGP 3,430. Samsung and Huawei raised the prices of their mobile phones and tablets last month, in reaction to the US dollar price increase and the currency scarcity. Samsung products, such as mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, and smart watches witnessed a price increase of 8-11%, according to the company's price list. Huawei's smartphones and tablets witnessed a price increase of 10-11%. Egypt is suffering from a serious shortage of US dollar liquidity since 2015. This has pushed the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), in cooperation with the government, to initiate many procedures, such as adding import and customs regulations, cancelling the maximum limit of US dollar deposits, and increasing the dollar value in the formal exchange market in March by 14% . The dollar exchange prices in the banks stood at EGP 8.83 for purchasing and EGP 8.88 for selling. However, in the parallel market, the price reached EGP 13 and declined to EGP 12.
