Bankers and importers in Egypt that have struggled to do business on letter of credit (L/C) terms have welcomed the decision of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to appoint a new central bank governor.

The current governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Hesham Ramez, has resigned and many Egyptians blame his decisions for the shortage of foreign currency that lies behind the L/C shortage.

Banking credentials

The CBE's successor, Tarek Amer, begins his four-year term on 27 November 2015. He is seen as a progressive banker and manager credited with transforming the fortunes of the National Bank of Egypt, the country's largest bank.

He previously worked for Citibank, Bank of America and is a former deputy central bank governor.

Falling reserves

Ramez, who quit less than three years into his term as CBE's governor, took up his post at the bank in February 2013, when foreign reserves were US$13.6 billion.

But the reserves had only risen to US$16.3 billion by September due in part, according to analysts, to the CBE's commitment to maintaining the Egyptian pound at an artificially high level.

Ongoing L/C problems

Egypt's bankers and importers have suffered multiple problems with L/Cs since the country's 2011 revolution.

According to a representative of the General Division of Importers at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, the biggest difficulty faced by Egypt's importers is opening L/Cs (DC World News, 27 April 2015).

The country's vehicle agents and distributors meanwhile are amongst many types of business reported over recent months to have being badly affected by Egypt's shortage of foreign exchange and L/Cs (DC World News, 21 August 2015).

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