Nov
08
Banks Offering Dollars Lure Egyptians From the Dark Side
By
Pedestrians walk past an advertisement displaying a large dollar sign and U.S. dollar banknotes outside a bank in Cairo.
Photographer: Shawn Baldwin/Bloomberg
-
Some businesses are finally able to get dollars from banks
-
Regaining confidence in the economy won’t be without pain
It was only half the amount he requested, but for Ahmed, a textile manufacturer in Egypt, the $168,000 he received from the bank to import yarn was almost a year in the making.
The transaction was the first he had done since the central bank decided on Nov. 3 to float the pound in an attempt to end a foreign-exchange crunch that had battered the economy and forced businesses to turn to the black market at a steep premium to the official rate…
Banks Offering Dollars Lure Egyptians From the Dark Side
