Egyptian pound forecast to drop by single digit percentage – ZAWYA

Egyptian pound forecast to drop by single digit percentage – ZAWYA

A man counts Egyptian pounds outside a bank in Cairo, Egypt October 24, 2016.. "We are expecting the Egyptian pound to depreciate by around 5 percent," said Mohamed Abu Basha, Head of Macroeconomics Analysis at EFG Hermes , Egypt's leading investment bank.. "We are also expecting remittances to drop by 15 percent compared with last year," said Abu Basha.. Following the move, the value of the local currency plunged from 8.88/$ to 19.62/$ within a month, which resulted in a monthly core inflation rate of over 30 percent.. Egypt's economic growth has been steadily improving at rate of 5.5 percent, the budget for the 2018/19 fiscal year reached a primary surplus of 2 percent of the GDP (excluding interest payments), inflation has been reduced, and unemployment has declined to around 8 percent, the lowest in 20 years.. The value of the Egyptian pound rose by nearly 11 percent against the greenback in 2019 alone.. Tuvey believes that the CBE has recently used foreign reserves to prop up the pound and keep it at a steady rate of $15.7. ".