Egypt sets customs dollar exchange rate at LE 16 in September

CAIRO – 28 August 2017: Egypt has fixed the customs dollar exchange rate at LE 16 to the dollar starting as of September, Minister of Finance Amr El-Garhy said Monday.

The new figure is less than the custom dollar exchange rate set for August at LE 16.25.

Garhy told Reuters that the decrease came following the steadily decline in the U.S.

dollar exchange rate over the past period.

Responding to the importers’ demands, the custom dollar exchange rate is less than the normal exchange rate, which records an average of LE 17.66 for buying and LE 17.76 for selling.

The instability of custom dollars following the flotation of the Egyptian pound late last year has prompted importers to ask the government to set the custom dollar at a fixed rate to avoid market and price instability.

Following the pound’s rally in February, the government fixed the custom dollar exchange rate at LE 16, down from LE 18.5, and it reviewed the rate every two weeks instead of monthly since then.

After the float, the value of the custom dollar had increased 80 to 100 per cent, and therefore the imports’ bill increased by the same amount.