DOHA: There is a sudden surge in demand for dollar bills from Egyptians travelling home as the Egyptian pound hit a record low to 6.24 against the greenback yesterday, making the black market active back home where one dollar was fetching close to seven pounds.
The fall in the pound’s value was 1.8 percent in a single day yesterday, smashing through a previous low witnessed during late 2004.
“We expect the rate on the black market to go up to 7.5 or even eight pounds per dollar as the demand for the US currency is likely to keep going up,” said an Egyptian expatriate.
The official pound-dollar rate hovered at around 6.24 yesterday, while a Qatari riyal fetched 1.685 pounds.
This was the rate on average quoted by exchange houses and banks here.
Exchange houses, however, said remittances to Egypt were not affected by the depreciating pound. “The remittance flows to Egypt haven’t changed” said Adil Lari, of Lari Exchange.
There are an estimated 130,000 and 150,000 Egyptian expatriates in Qatar, according to sources at the Egyptian embassy here.
More and more Egyptians traveling home on vacation have been carrying dollar bills with them, with foreign exchange market sources confirming that the demand for dollar in cash had indeed soared a bit.
“Yes, most dollar buyers today have been Egyptians,” said an official of an exchange house.
According to a Doha-based Egyptian journalist, the pound’s fall was linked to perceptions that Cairo’s talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMP) for a $4.8bn loan to shore up the economy and support the depreciating currency were collapsing.
He said the surging rate of the dollar on the black market at home was due to the restrictions put by the government on the amount (in dollar) one can take abroad.
“I think the maximum cap has been now fixed at $10,000. In other words, you cannot remit or carry more than $10,000 overseas. And this is making the black market active,” said the scribe.
The Peninsula
