Price of US dollar against pound nearly stable on Tuesday after two-day decline

US currency recovers less than half piaster of 30 piasters it lost on Sunday, Monday

The price of the US dollar has seen a state of stability against the Egyptian pound in the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and the banks working in the Egyptian market on Tuesday, following a decline which continued for two days when the dollar lost 30 piasters of its value.
The official price of the dollar at the CBE on Tuesday reached EGP 17.5636 for purchasing, and EGP 17.7 for selling, compared to EGP 17.5592 for purchasing, and EGP 17.6981 for selling on Monday.
The average price of the dollar in the Egyptian market, according to the data of CBE, reached EGP 17.5808 for purchasing, and EGP 17.6808 for selling on Tuesday, giving back the US currency less than half a piaster of about the 30 piasters it lost on Sunday and Monday.
In the four banks which Daily News Egypt monitored, the price of the dollar reached EGP 17.58 for purchasing, and EGP 17.67 for selling until mid the trading on Tuesday.
The list of the banks included the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), the Arab African International Bank, and Credit Agricole Egypt. The price of the dollar in the Commercial International Bank reached EGP 17.57 for purchasing, and EGP 17.67 for selling.
The price of the dollar lost more than 22 piasters on Sunday, and 7 piasters on Monday, which raised many questions about this sudden decline which the market has not witnessed for nearly nine months.
Tarek Fayed, the chairperson and chief executive officer of the Banque du Caire, said in remarks on Sunday that the entry of foreign currency's cash flows exceeded $1.5bn in January 2019, which appreciated the value of the Egyptian pound. This reflected the confidence of foreign investors and injecting funds in the Egyptian market, he added.
Fayed pointed out that there are other foreign investments expected to enter the market in the coming period, which makes the decline in the dollar price verifiable again, pointing out that many foreign investors target Egypt.
Yehya Aboul Fotouh, the deputy chairperson of the NBE, said that the mechanisms of supply and demand as well as market forces are the determents of the exchange rate of the dollar against the pound, while confirming the increase in the dollar supply in the bank, which saw an influx of $1bn to bring up its amounts of hard cash to $40bn since the float of the currency.
A senior official at Banque Misr said that the bank had received dollar inflows in January worth $820m, which is higher than previous months in light of the CBE canceling the foreign investors funds' repatriation mechanisms.
He added that the movement of the exchange rate is a healthy phenomenon which confirms the control of supply and demand in pricing, pointing out that it is difficult to predict the value of the currency during the coming period as it relates to global developments and market conditions both locally and abroad.