Egypt's pound falls to a historic record versus the US dollar.

Egypt’s administration devalued the pound in October, but it has not allowed it to float freely against the US dollar, as required by IMF loans.

In any event, the new three-billion-dollar IMF loan is insignificant - Egpyt’s debt service alone for 2022-2023 is 42 billion dollars.

Egypt has depreciated the pound by 57% so far, yet according to Moody’s, it remains one of the five countries most at danger of not servicing its external debt.

There are stringent limitations on how much Egyptians may withdraw from banks, and shoppers are suffering!

Officially, inflation has reached 18.7%, but “the bread I used to purchase for a pound now costs three,” Rehab, 34, told AFP.

“My husband makes 6,000 pounds each month” (230 euros); formerly, we lasted 30 days, but now we’re in the red after 10,” she continued.

Everything is pricey since the majority of items are imported and borrowing rates have risen by 8%. That includes bread patties, falafels, oil bottles, and vegetable packages, which continue to be subsidized for the 70 million Egyptians designated as “poor” and hence in possession of a ration card.

Signs at the store warn: “no more than three bags of rice”, “no more than two bottles of milk”, or “one bottle of oil”.

The Minister of Transport has proposed a solution: make tourists pay for the train in dollars!

Because of that many tourists around the world decided to change their holiday vacation destination to other countries like Turkey, Dubai, and Jordan…

He said “I need dollars to pay for imported trains. It suits tourists and me too,” Kamel al-Wazir explained recently.

The National Food Council hailed “chicken feet, favorable to both the body and the wallet” in the press.

“Frozen meat is “no longer an option,” said Rida, 55, another anonymous customer. “The price has risen from 85 to 150 pounds per kg.” Fresh meat is out of the question because it costs twice as much as frozen meat.

“I am a public servant and I do cleaning at a hospital, but even with two paychecks, there are lots of items that I can no longer buy,” Rida said to the AFP.

If prices are soaring, it is also because importers are struggling to release dollars: currently, seven billion dollars of products are blocked in ports, according to the authorities.

Several banks are now limiting withdrawals in dollars and have tripled the costs of using bank cards while at money changers. They were scalded by a haemorrhaging of dollars at the beginning of the war in Ukraine when investors took out billions of them.

Even the very pro-regime Amr Adib got angry in his talk show: “At least let the Egyptians on vacation withdraw money for their taxi back!”

The Bank of Egypt has only 33.5 billion dollars in reserve against 41 billion back in February - including 28 billion in the form of deposits from Gulf allies. And its external debt has more than tripled in 10 years to 150 billion euros.