Egypt’s Red-Hot Currency Continues to Rise as Inflows Pick Up
- Nation saw $1.7 billion of inflows in past week: central bank
- The currency can appreciate even further, says EFG Hermes
Egyptian pound bank notes
Photographer: Andrew Burton/Bloomberg
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Egypt’s currency, one of the world’s best performers in 2019, has breached a key threshold following inflows of more than $1.5 billion in the past week.
The pound rose 0.9% to 15.92 per dollar Monday, trading stronger than 16 against the greenback for the first time since March 2017. Local banks saw $1.7 billion of inflows in the five days through Jan. 13, the central bank said in a statement.
The currency, which was floated in late 2016 amid a foreign-exchange crisis, has been popular with carry traders in the past year. They’ve been lured by yields of almost 15% on local bonds as well as the economic reforms undertaken by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.