The document revealed that the government expects the EGP to stabilize at EGP 33.45 against the USD in 2024, and see a slight bump to EGP 35.5 by 2025
Egypt is looking to adopt a flexible exchange rate policy that will see the Egyptian pound valued at EGP 39.61 against the USD by 2028, according to a document released by the Egyptian Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) over the long weekend.
The document revealed that the government expects the EGP to stabilize at EGP 33.45 against the USD in 2024, and see a slight bump to EGP 35.5 by 2025.
In late December, HSBC revealed its expectations that the Egyptian pound will undergo another devaluation in the first quarter of 2024, anticipating rates to reach EGP 40-45 against the US dollar.
At the end of November, Fitch Solutions’ BMI forecasted the EGP to depreciate to 40-45 against the USD in February 2024, while EFG Hermes believes that the EGP will fall to EGP 40 against the USD.
Some media reports placed the EGP at 54 per USD in the black market during the weekend prior to the document’s release. The official price remained at EGP 30.96.
The IDSC document, titled “Document Highlighting the Strategic Directions for the Egyptian Economy for the New Presidential Term (2024-2030),” identified the government’s targets for the next 6 years.
Egypt aims to curb inflation to around 9.2% on average between 2024 and 2028, projecting a lower 5% by 2030, it explained.
The strategy includes a target of lowering the annual current account deficit to 2.6% of the GDP on average by 2028. In a release last week, the Planning Ministry revealed that Egypt’s current account deficit reached $4.71 billion in FY2022/2023 at around 1.42% of the country’s GDP.
