Egypt in January 2023

06 January 2023

Egyptian Pound Continues its Decline to 27 Pounds Per Dollar (Sky News Arabia). On Thursday, the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound continued its downward path, retreating to the level of 27 pounds per dollar, which is its lowest level ever in the official market. Exchange rate flexibility was a key demand of the International Monetary Fund, which approved a 46-month bailout package worth $3 billion for Egypt in October. Egypt had been seeking the loan since March, after the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine exacerbated a foreign exchange shortage, causing a sharp slowdown in imports and a backlog of goods at ports.

To Curb the Steady Collapse of the Pound, Egypt Announces “Dollar Austerity” (Al Nahar Al Arabi). Among the procedures included in the decision: postponing the implementation of any new project that has not been implemented and has a dollar component, and requiring state entities to obtain the approval of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank before allocating foreign liquidity, in addition to rationalizing all travel outside the country except for extreme necessity, and after approval.

Egypt to Receive Second Tranche of IMF’s $3 Billion Loan by End of March (Ahram Online). Egypt is set to receive the second tranche of the $3 billion loan it secured from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), estimated at around $347 million, by the end of March, following the completion of the first review of the loan programme, the IMF Mission Chief for Egypt, Middle East and Central Asia Department Ivanna Vladkova Hollar said on Tuesday.

Egyptian Pound Continues Unprecedented Fall Against the Dollar (Ahram Online). In a dramatic performance on Wednesday, the Egyptian pound hit its lowest-ever price of EGP 31 against the US dollar, losing over 100 percent [sic] of its value since March before slowing down to EGP 29.63 at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and major banks.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt Stress the Need for Iran to Avoid Destabilizing Activities (Asharq Al Awsat). Meeting in Riyadh, the two countries’ foreign ministers stressed the importance of Arab security and the need to address any threats to the region’s waterways.

Egypt, China Agree to Develop Strategic Partnership (Asharq Al-Awsat). Egypt and China stressed their keenness to develop a comprehensive strategic partnership that brings them together in various fields. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received Sunday Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who is on an African tour that includes five countries.

Egypt Suffers Deficit in its Water Resources Amounting to 35 Billion Cubic Meters (Asharq Al-awsat). Hani Sweilem, Egyptian Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, said that his country has a deficit of 35 billion cubic meters in available water resources, at a time when Ethiopia is preparing for a fourth filling of the “Renaissance Dam” reservoir on the Nile River, which raises tensions with the downstream countries (Egypt and Sudan).

Russian Central Bank Includes the Egyptian Pound in Currency Exchange Rates (Al Arabiya). This comes in light of the decline in the price of the US dollar against the Egyptian pound, after successive increases that coincided with the liberalization of the exchange rate. The new decision will allow Egypt and Russia to use the ruble and the pound in commercial transactions between the two countries, instead of the dollar, as the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Russia is estimated at about $4.7 billion for the year 2021.
Columbia University Names Egypt-born Nemat Shafik as First Woman President (Al Arabiya). Columbia University named former Bank of England Deputy Governor and current London School of Economics President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik as its president, marking the first time a woman has been named to lead the renowned American educational institution.

CIA Director William Burns Visits Cairo (Al Sharq Al Awsat). According to the official spokesman for the Egyptian presidency, Sisi welcomed the American official, stressing the strength of the Egyptian-American relations and the importance that Egypt attaches to the firm cooperation between the two countries in various fields, especially at the security and intelligence levels, and to support efforts to restore stability in the Middle East in light of the challenges it is witnessing.

Cairo and New Delhi to Elevate Bilateral Relations to Strategic Partnership (Ahram Online). Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to upgrade the relations between both countries – especially political relations and relations in the fields of security, defense, energy, and economy – to the level of Strategic Partnership.
US Dollar Price Stabilizes in Egypt on Thursday (Egypt Independent). The price of the dollar in banks across the country has recorded its lowest price at 29.84 to the dollar.

US-Egyptian Consensus: Prioritize the Economy and Achieving Stability (Al Nahar). Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry pointed out, in a joint press conference with his American counterpart Antony Blinken in Cairo, that there is a great agreement between the two countries on various issues, as the talks included the Renaissance Dam, Libya and Sudan, stressing that “Cairo is counting on cooperation with Washington to achieve stability in the Middle East region”…In turn, Blinken indicated that “the priority is the economy in relations between Egypt and the United States,” pointing out that the war in Ukraine has greatly affected the Egyptian people.
Russian-Egyptian Meeting to Discuss Politics and Trade (Sky News Arabia). On Monday evening, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will head to Moscow on a bilateral visit aimed at following up the course of bilateral relations between the two countries and discussing the repercussions of the war in Ukraine. Shoukry ‘s visit to Russia comes a few hours after the talks he held with his American counterpart, Antony Blinken, in Cairo, which focused mainly on ways to calm the Palestinian territories after the recent wave of escalation, in addition to other issues, including the Renaissance Dam and the situation in Libya and Sudan.