Egypt: Penalties of Imprisonment, fines for illegal foreign exchange trading

CAIRO – 25 March 2022: Trading with foreign currencies outside the approved banks or licensed exchange companies is punishable by imprisonment for at least six months to three years maximum and a fine of not less than EGP 1 million and not exceeding EGP 5 million, or either of these two penalties.

 

The penalties were stipulated in Article 233 of the new Central Bank and Banking System Law. Also, the sums and items subject to illegal trading shall be confiscated.

 

Three days ago, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) devaluated the Egyptian pound against the US dollar by 16.67%. The CBE Governor Tarek Amer said that the Central Bank’s decisions regarding, interest and exchange rates are very good and strong. 

 

The decisions aim at preserving Egypt’s financial capabilities and maintaining the liquidity of the foreign exchange,” said Amer in a press conference on Monday.

 

The importance of interest rates boils down to providing liquidity; without liquidity, the prices would be very different, he added, noting that the Egyptian banks have sufficient liquidity and finance development projects.

 

Cairo Chamber of Commerce's Currency Exchange Department announced a 300 percent record increase in the selling of dollar and a hike in the selling of other foreign currencies over the past days following a decision of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr to launch one-year saving certificates with an 18 percent annual yield, after the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE)'s exceptional decision to raise interest rates by 1 percent.

 

MENA contributed to this report