The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a statement that it will deduct spare change from cheques and bank remittances. According to the statement, the decision includes the collection of change from amounts below one million Egyptian pounds ($56,500) and 10 Egyptian pounds for remittance which exceeds one million Egyptian pounds. The decision aims to serve the national economy as it will be transferred to the Long live Egypt fund to finance its initiative in building Egypt for the future generations through the multiple developmental projects the fund has supported, initiated and continue to develop throughout Egypt.
According to Dr. Fakhri Al-Fiqi, an economist, Spare Change provides about 100 million pounds annually as predicted by economists and stressed that these amounts will be well utilised when directed towards developmental projects that serve all Egyptians. Cheques and remittances fractions will be collected from bank’s branches and transferred by end of each day to the Central Bank, said Dr. Mustafa Badra,”economist,” explaining that those fractions, although meaningless to the client, will lead to greater benefits to the community and all Egyptian citizens.
Yahya Abul-Fotouh, Deputy head of the National Bank of Egypt, said that the bank is currently working on preparing the internal logistics for the initiative and sending out instructions to the branches to activate the mechanism.
He added that the process has to be accepted by the client, as per the Central Bank’s decision, prior to its application to their accounts, and spare change will only be deducted after the consent of the client with a written approval, accordingly it is difficult to determine the monthly returns to Egypt’s fund currently. He further added that No bank has the right to deduct any penny from the customer’s accounts unless the client agrees. On the other hand, Pension cheques and remittances not exceeding 100 pounds will be exempt as per the CBE’s decision.
