Head of Central Bank of Egypt favours a weaker Egyptian pound against the US dollar

The head of the Central Bank of Egypt has told reporters that he favored a weaker Egyptian pound against the US dollar. Farouk El Okdah said that such a drop would be favorable to the country. “A weaker pound, if it happens, is good,” Okdah said, adding that the government expects inflation to drop below 10 percent in the second quarter of 2009. In September, urban inflation was at 21.5 percent, down from a high of 23.6 percent in August. The Ministry of Investment said in a statement this week that it envisioned inflation to fall to 12 or 13 percent by the end of the 2008/9 fiscal year. The Egyptian pound is currently exchanging at 5.5879, a loss of 5.2 percent since it hit a five-year high of 5.3 pounds to the dollar in August.