Some banks have reduced withdrawal and purchase limits to regarding $100 (Anatolia)
lowered Egyptian banks big once more Cloud limits And purchases via electronic payment cards outside the country, in an effort to preserve foreign assetsAnd contribute to containing the violent currency crisis that the country has been going through since last March.
The Commercial International Bank CIB-Egypt and HSBC Bank announced, according to the local “Enterprise” economic bulletin today, Tuesday, the reduction of the monthly limits for withdrawals and purchases using debit and credit cards abroad.
The Commercial International Bank has reduced the monthly withdrawal limits abroad for most debit cards to 2,500 pounds (approximately $101) from 5 to 30,000 pounds, depending on the type of card, while the limits for international card purchases have not witnessed any modification, whether done in person or via the Internet.
HSBC also reduced the monthly withdrawal limit to $1,500 per customer on all its debit and credit cards, below the previous ceiling of $5,000, according to the bank’s website, and also imposed limits on customer purchases in foreign currency in person and through what. It ranges between 10-50 thousand pounds, depending on the type of card.
It is usual for customers to use bank cards outside Egypt, whether for purchases or cash withdrawals, to obtain cash in the same currency of the country in which they are located, or to pay directly at purchases in transactions in which payment is available directly via cards.
Last October, the two banks imposed, along with other banks, limits on withdrawals, as the Commercial Bank set a ceiling for international monthly purchases between 20-200 thousand pounds. The bank set weekly international withdrawals for credit cards between 3-30 thousand pounds.
HSBC also set a monthly ceiling for cash withdrawals of $5,000 for both debit and credit cards, while it did not set a ceiling on purchases abroad.
At that time, Banque Misr set the cash withdrawal ceiling for credit and debit cards used abroad between $500-1,500 per month, depending on the type of card. The bank set the monthly ceiling for purchases abroad using debit cards between $1,000-25,000.
First Abu Dhabi Bank also reduced cash withdrawal limits using debit cards abroad to 10,000 pounds, from 50,000 pounds.
These instructions are similar to what happened before the great flotation of the pound once morest the dollar at the end of 2016, and the third and second flotation during the current year last October.
Experts expect that the pound will witness a decline in the black market by 15% in the coming days, to settle between 32 and 33 pounds, once morest the dollar, while the official price of the dollar settled yesterday at 24.75 pounds.
The head of the fund’s mission to Egypt, Vladkova Hollar, told Archyde.com on Monday that the fund will await Egypt’s transition to a flexible exchange rate following canceling the requirement to finance imports with letters of credit at the end of this month.
Last week, the fund’s executive board approved a $3 billion financial aid package over 46 months for Egypt, saying it included a “permanent shift to a flexible exchange rate regime”.
(One dollar = approximately 24.75 Egyptian pounds)
