As Egyptian banks reopened on Sunday the conditions have been relatively stable all things considered, as the US dollar has made a 2.3% gain on the Egyptian pound (EP) according to the BBC, since the crisis started. Rumors are that while the Egyptian government hasn’t intervened directly that state-owned banks have been selling USD to support the EP. The Egyptian stock market will remain closed until next Sunday.
When bank doors initially opened there were a significant amount of customers waiting. But withdrawals have been limited to 50,000 EP ($8,400) and $10,000 in foreign currencies.
The Egyptian government had to pull back on a treasury auction, looking for 15bn (Euro), they had to settle for 1bn as foreign investors are reluctant to buy and borrowing costs have risen for the government around 1.5% from the last auction.
The domino effect to Tunisia’s and Egypt’s political unrest that has been taking place in some respect to other neighboring countries like Jordan and Yemen, is now feared to also destabilize currencies and financial markets as well.
While the Middle East tries to rebound from unrest, Europe is still cautiously waiting for a turnaround in some of their country-states like Greece and Ireland who have undergone renovations and Portugal, Spain and Italy who are on watch lists for now. China has made overtures to purchase European bonds and help in reworking debt.
Meanwhile, the US struggles with mounting national debt, stalled talks on budget policy and cutting spending, and unemployment which remains stubbornly high at 9.0%.
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