Expert stresses Egypt's pound will rise

Managing Director of the investment sector banks in CI Capital Holding Company Hesham Gohar praised the recent economic decisions taken in Egypt, saying that they opened the door for many sectors to record strong performance during the recent period since the beginning of the year.

He added, in an interview with “Arabs Today”, that the tourist sector is one of the sectors that benefited most from the recent decisions, as it is expected that the country will restore its high rates of tourists during the current year after Russian decision to lift the ban imposed on flights to Egypt.

He added that the tourist sector can achieve notable breakthrough to resolve the hard currency crisis, saying that it is the only sector that does not need any new investments in the light of availability of hotels and tourist resorts.

He underlined the importance of the economic sectors on which the country can depend to increase the exports, especially the agriculture sector. On the contrary, he added, the companies relying on importing the raw materials are forced to raise the prices of its products to maintain their profit margins.

He called the Egyptian government for supporting small and medium companies with financial support to face the liquidity crisis, praising the steps taken recently by the government to facilitate the repayment of dollar loans of the companies, saying that the capital cycle faces currently increasing pressures due to flotation and inflation.

He expected that the Egyptian economy will witness improvement during the second half of 2017 in coincidence with the expected increase in foreign investments and dollar availability. He added that the decline in dollar against the Egyptian pound, expected to take place during the coming months, will contain the current inflation.

He added that the government suspended subsidies for specific sectors, saying that the step will test the ability of each sector to achieve growth after decades of unfair subsidies for a large number of sectors, saying that the government will gain the fruits of its policies during the coming period.