By Alaa Abd-Al Wanees
After the Central Bank of Egypt’s decision to float the Egyptian pound, the USD exchange rate will be set by “supply and demand”. It is becoming certain that the basic commodities are now in danger because there will be certain traders who control the prices of these commodities, which affect the Egyptian consumers.
On the other hand, the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) strives to strengthen its presence and control the market yet it needs more support from the government.
The CPA’s Executive Manager Mr. Ahmed Samir said, “The CPA is not competent to deal with the currency market because it falls under the responsibility of Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) as per the Egyptian constitution and law. However, the currency market serves today as a tool used by some people to achieve personal gains without taking into account the country’s current circumstances. Therefore, the CPA strives now to overcome implications of flotation decision through eliminating the so-called parallel market, taking into consideration the country’s current situation”.
Samir added, “The flotation decision has made it necessary for Egypt to counter an economic warfare through various factors.
Firstly, we must practice control over prices in order to address unjustified price hikes as the USD selling price and prices of these commodities are currently fixed. Therefore, we are currently striving to control and regulate the market with the situation prevailing in the last few days when the CPA was unable to achieve a result in the fight against traders due to USD exchange rate fluctuations. However, the USD exchange rate is now fixed and any increase in USD selling rate will not exceed its selling rate in the past few days. Therefore, prices of the basic commodities are expected to decrease gradually”.
