The new governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Tarek Amer, has promised action to revive the flow of letters of credit (L/Cs) for Egyptian businesses.

The new governor, who takes up his post officially on 27 November, has held several meetings with bankers and business leaders since his appointment.

L/C shortage

Amer was appointed the new current CBE governor at the end of October. Many Egyptians blame his recently resigned predecessor, Hesham Ramez, for decisions that created the shortage of foreign currency that lies behind the L/C shortage (DC World News, 26 October 2015).

Bankers and importers in Egypt have increasingly struggled to do business on L/C terms since the 2011 uprising that forced former president Hosni Mubarak out of office.

Meeting schedule

Since his appointment, Amer has already met with senior executives of Egypt's major banks, leading discussions centred on improving the availability of US dollars in the country's banking system.

The new governor also met with chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), Mohamed El-Sewedy.

In that meeting, Amer promised to reduce the duration for opening L/Cs, especially for small- and medium-sized enterprises involved in importing.

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