Urgent | Egypt and Turkey are quickly dispensing with the dollar in trade exchange to ease pressure on the lira and the pound

Egypt and Turkey are accelerating their steps to dispense with the dollar in their commercial transactions and rely on their local currencies instead, at a time when the pound and the dollar are under severe pressure as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Yesterday, Ahmed Samir, the Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry, visited; to Turkey at the head of a delegation that included many government officials and senior Egyptian industry and trade men, which is the first visit in 10 years after the restoration of political relations between the two countries, and he met the Turkish Minister of Trade, where they announced that they would seek to double the volume of trade exchange between them; To reach $ 15 billion, they will also expand the coverage of the free trade agreement signed between them.

Pressures on the lira and the pound:

Yahya Al-Wathiq Billah, head of the Commercial Representation Agency, who is one of the main participants in the delegation, said that the Turkish side welcomed the dispensation of the dollar in trade exchange with Egypt, as this would contribute to easing pressures on the two countries’ currencies, the lira and the pound.

The Turkish lira and the Egyptian pound have been subjected to great pressure since the repercussions of the Russian-American war against the dollar, which led to a decline in its value by more than half, and the reason for the exacerbation of their inflation rates.

Al-Wathiq in God said in statements to “Al-Fajr”, “We have set the main frameworks for the trade exchange between the two countries to be away from the dollar currency, and the Central Bank of Egypt and Turkey will directly start setting up a mechanism for implementing this matter, which may take a long time to implement it, given that technical matters are in such a way.” These things get complicated.”

According to official data issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, the value of trade exchange between Egypt and Turkey amounted to $7.7 billion in 2022 compared to $6.7 billion in 2021, an increase of 14%, of which Egyptian exports represented $4 billion during, while the value of Egyptian imports amounted to From Turkey 3.72 billion dollars.

The trade balance between the two countries is balanced to a large extent, without a surplus or deficit for one country at the expense of the other, which quickly contributes to the completion of exchange procedures between the two countries in local currencies.

Expected Turkish investments in the textile sector:

Egypt expanded efforts to exchange trade in local currencies with a number of countries, including Russia and China.

Ali Essa, head of the Businessmen Association, said that trade exchange between Egypt and Turkey in local currencies will ease pressure on the Egyptian economy, as the Egyptian market could replace many imports with Turkish goods, which will be cheap after the implementation of the agreement.

The value of Turkish investments in Egypt amounted to $179.9 million during the fiscal year 2021/2022, compared to $138.1 million during the fiscal year 2020/2021, an increase of 30.3%.

He pointed out that Turkey exports many commodities that the Egyptian economy needs, such as iron, steel, petrochemicals, and clothes, stressing that the return of political relations will support the deepening of Turkish investments in the Egyptian market, especially the ready-made garments sector, in which Turkey has great expertise.