The Egyptian pound dropped today to its lowest level in more than five years against the US dollar, surpassing 19 pounds.
The Central Bank of Egypt offered the purchase price of the US dollar against 19.01 Egyptian pounds, a level at which the Egyptian currency has not fallen since December 2016, when the value of the dollar reached 19.3 pounds, less than a month after the decision to liberalize the exchange rate.
Egypt devalued its currency again in March, losing about 17 percent of its value against the dollar, which brought the selling price of the greenback to more than 18 pounds.
The year 2016 was the worst in Egyptian currency history, with the pound trading in the official market at 7 pounds at the start of the year. By the end of 2016, the dollar exchange rate rose around 20 pounds, bringing the Egyptian pound’s losses to 185 percent.
External pressures, such as Russia’s war on Ukraine and rising global energy and food prices, are causing the local currency’s value to deteriorate. According to experts, it also results from bad economic and financial policies, such as debt expansion and reliance on hot money, military dominance of various economic sectors, and a lack of spending and spending priorities.
