Galal El-Zorba, the former head of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, said that the decision to float the Egyptian pound is the first step towards real reform and attracting foreign investments. He told Daily News Egypt that reducing the currency value will reflect positively on the main sources of hard cash, exports, tourism, and remittances, which will contribute to increasing the competitiveness of Egyptian products destined for export, and lowers the tourism cost of the arrivals, and encourages workers abroad to transfer their money across official sources. The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced this morning setting a guiding price for the US dollar against the national currency at EGP 13, allowing banks to move across a profit margin of 10%. El-Zorba added that the flotation must be followed by modifying the legislation governing investment incentives and export development. He ruled out price hikes after the flotation, saying that companies have been pricing their goods according to the black market rate already. He urged investors to rationalise demand on hard cash to maintain the available US dollars. He predicted the price of the greenback to rise in the first days of flotation, saying that it must go down again even if it reaches EGP 14-15.
