Russia central bank adds EGP to exchange rate list

Newspaper Title: english.ahram.org.eg

Newspaper Number:

Thursday - 19 January 2023

Russia's central bank has added nine currencies to its list of exchange rates against the ruble, including the Egyptian pound, starting 18 January.

The other eight are the UAE dirham, the Thai baht, the Vietnamese dong, the Serbian dinar, the New Zealand dollar, the Georgian lari, the Indonesian rupiah, and the Qatari riyal, according to the central bank’s official website.

The official exchange rate between the Egyptian pound and the Russian ruble, according to the Russian central bank's website, is EGP 10 to 23.3 rubles (EGP 1 to 2.3 rubles).

Russia and Egypt have been conducting trade dealings in both of their local currencies since September. This was due to the Western sanctions put on Russia after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war in February, leading both Egypt and Russia to resort to using the pound or the ruble in trade exchange.

Furthermore, Russia is negotiating with the Central Bank of Egypt for the approval of its Mir payment cards – originally issued in 2014 – in Egypt to allow it to make overseas payments to it, Russian Ambassador to Cairo Georgy Borisenko said in September.

The approval will increase Russian tourism to Egypt, Borisenko said. Russian tourism is a significant source of revenue for Egypt, with around 700,000 Russian tourists visiting the country in 2021.

On the other side, the Egyptian pound has fallen nearly 100 per cent of its rate of EGP 15.78 against the US dollar before its initial devaluation in March 2022. The pound has since been devaluated two additional times, and today, the value of one US dollar is EGP29.78.