Cairo - Mubasher: Egyptian president Abdel Fatah El-Sisi on Sunday issued a new law approving a draft developed by the House of Representatives amending some provisions of the law for the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE), the banking system and currency issued.

The law punishes those who violate the rules for foreign currency trading by prison sentences ranging between 3 months and 10 years, and fines between EGP 1 million and EGP 5 million, according to Middle East News Agency (MENA).

The Egyptian House of Representatives approved the law draft on 3 August.

Egypt suffers from low foreign currency reserves owing to a decline in Suez Canal revenues, tourism, exports and remittances. The country’s dollar exchange rate has a black market prices which is different from that announced by the CBE.

Foreign reserves dropped from $36 billion in early January 2011 to $15.54 billion in 2016.