Egypt central bank chief quits amid deepening crisis

Egypt central bank chief quits amid deepening crisis

President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi accepted the resignation of Amer, who took up his post in 2015 and had been due to stay on until next year

President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi named Tareq Amer a presidential adviser but there was no immediate word on who would replace him at the central bank. — File photo

By AFP Published: Wed 17 Aug 2022, 5:57 PM

The governor of Egypt’s central bank, Tareq Amer, resigned on Wednesday, state media reported, with the Arab world’s most populous country in the grip of a deepening economic crisis.

President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi accepted the resignation of Amer, who took up his post in 2015 and had been due to stay on until next year, the state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram reported.

Sisi named Amer a presidential adviser but there was no immediate word on who would replace him at the central bank.

He leaves with the Egyptian pound changing hands at 19.1 to the US dollar, its second lowest exchange rate on record, exceeded only during the currency’s brutal devaluation in winter 2016.

Egypt devalued its currency again in March in the face of soaring inflation.

The world’s largest importer of wheat, Egypt has been badly hit by the war between its two