Egypt Signals Currency Shift With Payment of Foreign Dues
- Central bank clears backlog of funds owed to investors
- Benchmark stocks index climbs most in the world after decision
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Egypt’s new central-bank Governor Tarek Amer sought to restore investor confidence battered by five years of political unrest by paying foreign investors the money owed to them in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising.
The central bank said Tuesday it paid $547.2 million, clearing the backlog of funds that it hadn’t allowed sellers of stocks and bonds to convert into foreign exchange earlier. While that immediately eases the dollar crunch, the move by Amer in the first week of his tenure also signals he’s readying for a more liberal currency policy, according to CI Capital Holding, the investment-banking unit of the country’s biggest listed lender. The benchmark EGX 30 Index rose the most of any stock market in the world on Wednesday.