Cairo-Mubasher: The exchange rate of the Egyptian pound is expected to fall against the US dollar to EGP 20 and EGP 21 by the end of 2019 and 2020, respectively, Capital Economics said in a recent report.

The leading independent research firm noted that the Egyptian pound's exchange rate is forecast to register EGP 19 against the greenback by the end of this year.

“There are already some signs that the central bank may have begun to intervene in the FX market to keep the currency stable at its current rate of about $18. Intervention probably continued this week,” according to the report.

On Sunday, the US dollar rate against the Egyptian pound hit EGP 17.83 for buying and EGP 17.95 for selling, according to the Central Bank of Egypt's data.

It’s worth noting that Egypt set Us dollar at EGP 17.25 in the state budget for fiscal year 2018/2019. The finance ministry previously stated that any decline in the Egyptian pound's exchange rate would adversely affect the primary budget by around EGP 3 billion.