Egypt currency weakens as democracy demands stay unresolved
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Egypt’s stock exchange urged citizens to exercise their duty to vote in the parliamentary elections, and announced the bourse will be closed on Nov. 28, the start of the first phase of voting.
With Sunday already a holiday for Islamic New Year, this means Egypt’s market will reopen for trading on Nov. 29.
By the end of Thursday’s trading session, the EGX 30 was up 1.69 percent while the broader EGX 100 rose 1.71 percent.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian pound weakened to more than 6 to the US dollar for the first time since January 2005, Reuters reported. The pound traded as weak as 6.0025 the dollar before settling around 6.0010.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s pushed Egypt’s sovereign credit ratings deeper into junk status, AP reported.
The stock market had lost LE 29 billion in total market cap by Tuesday, as democracy protests once again rocked the nation. The market regained some losses on Wednesday as the benchmark index closed up 1.1 percent.
Nationwide protesters are demanding that the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) swiftly cede power to a civilian authority. The army council has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf’s Cabinet, and has said elections will proceed as planned.
However, this has not satisfied activists and protesters around the country calling for the formation of a salvation government or a presidential council in place of the ruling army council, which came to power after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.
Meanwhile, foreign reserves have dwindled to $22.1 billion, from $36 billion in January, and tourism — one of the pillars of the economy — has not nearly recovered.
Excerpted from an article by Amira Salah-Ahmed for Daily News Egypt
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