Global Courant
Journalist and media presenter Amr Adib addressed the viral social media discussion on the National Bank of Egypt about issuing a new US dollar savings certificate with an interest rate of 10 percent.
On his show “al-Hekaya” (The story), on MBC Masr on Saturday, Adib said there should be ships in US dollars to lure Egyptians abroad.
This is likely a proposed card and perhaps just an internal discussion at the bank, he said.
Adib added: “What tempts Egyptians abroad to buy dollars from abroad and place them in dollar deposits in Egyptian banks? The state wants dollars and banks want dollars, but the methods of raising dollars need to be improved.”
He added that whoever has the dollar will deposit a large sum of US$50,000 or $60,000, and should therefore be reassured that they will get the money they deposited in the same currency.
Egypt has considered the idea of allowing expatriates to import cars from abroad to boost the dollar, he noted, then considered canceling gold import fees.
That led to market recovery, which he says are good ideas and should be tempting.
Dollar savings bonds or foreign currency savings bonds in general is a bank investment certificate with a medium or long term deposit from three years to seven years. The Egyptian banking sector provides some dollars savings certificates with a fixed periodic return.
