December 10, 2017

The Central Bank of Egypt Lifted Cash Limits for Companies Importing Non-Essential Products

On 28 November 2017, the Central Bank of Egypt (“CBE”) issued a decision to remove all limits on foreign currency deposits and withdrawals that was imposed on companies importing non-essential products.

The restriction was first imposed after the 2011 uprising to limit companies from making foreign currency withdrawals exceeding USD 30,000 per month, or cash and/or wired deposit of amounts exceeding USD 10,000 per day or USD 50,000 per month. Owing to this, if a company was able to source out foreign currencies from exchange houses, it was not able to deposit such funds with the banking sector. This restriction aimed at curbing the purchases of foreign currencies from the black market, leaving the only option to source USD from the banks itself. On March 2016, the CBE removed such restrictions only for companies importing essential goods such as essential food products, baby formula, medicines, and machines and equipment necessary for production.

For more information on the history of the foreign currency restrictions during the previous years, please refer to our report here

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