Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Egypt, Turkey to Use Local Currencies in Trade Exchange


Fri 06 Oct 2023 | 05:31 AM
Taarek Refaat

Yahya Al-Wathiq Billah, head of the Egyptian Commercial Service announced during the consultative meeting with Turkish investors in Egypt, which was held on Tuesday, that the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will begin the process of discussing with its Turkish counterpart the mechanism of trade exchange using local currencies from next week.

Al-Wathiq Billah said that Egypt and Turkey aim at this time to increase the volume of trade exchange between the two countries to $15 billion over the next five years, compared to $10 billion currently, stressing that there will be discussions about dealing in the local currency to reduce the volume of demand for the US dollar.

The two sides agreed in principle to trade partly in local currencies, representing up to 30% of total bilateral trade.

He pointed out that there are multiple Turkish investors in clothing, leather, dyeing, and gelatin, and there are also companies considering entering the field of technology.

He added: “With regard to cooperation in the field of automobile manufacturing and assembly, there are agreements regarding cooperation in the industries that feed cars, adding that Turkey has the experience of the first electric vehicle.”

Meantime, the Turkish Ambassador to Cairo Salih Mutluşen held a consultative meeting for Turkish investors in Egypt, in the presence of representatives of more than 50 Turkish companies operating in Egypt and a number of journalists.

During the meeting, he stressed the depth of bilateral relations between Egypt and Turkey politically, as well as economically and commercially, which will benefit both countries.

It is noteworthy that the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Turkey recorded about $9.7 billion during the year 2022, where the Egyptian exports to Turkey exceeded $5 billion, while Turkish investments in Egypt increased in two years to more than $2 billion.

The number of companies reached 200 companies inside Egypt, including 40 big ones.