Exchange companies follow law

Renad Ghanem CAIRO — Everyday, Egyptian newspapers announce both the official and black market currency exchange rates, but most money exchange companies are now applying the official rates only to avoid being charged by the police after a number of companies were closed in the latest campaign by the government to control the black market. Exchangers said that they would only sell at the official rates for both Saudi Riyal and the US Dollar. One exchange employee, Mahmoud, said that the fine for trading at rates other than the official rate was extremely high and so a number of exchange companies had closed their doors because they would not survive. “We want to be on the safe side. There are many companies closed by police and some who were jailed and fined for not dealing with customers at the official rates,” he said. “There is a hidden black market, and they sell and buy the US Dollar and Saudi Riyal with insane prices. It’s hard to risk with our job, a fine and jail is not an easy thing, even the people we know and we used to change money for them now we deal with them only by the official rates.” One customer who refused to change at the official rates said that he would find any of those in the black market who sell with higher rates. “It’s not a risk for the exchange companies only but also for us, if any were caught by the police selling or buying out of the official rates will face charges, I mean that despite all this risk I will find a trusted source in the black market to change from,” he said. “It’s unfair to change the US Dollar with EGP8.88 while it exceeds EGP13.50 on the black market. Same thing with the Saudi Riyal.”