Cairo - Mubasher: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) ordered the lenders operating in the Arab Republic to suspend the use of debit cards outside the state, officials in the financial authority revealed.

One of the officials told “Asharq Business” that the CBE’s decision was due to the foreign currency shortage in the country despite devaluing the Egyptian pound three times since the beginning of 2022.

During a recent interview with Bloomberg, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), highlighted that Egypt will “bleed” precious reserves unless it devalues its currency again.

Egypt's net foreign reserve plummeted last year to its lowest level since 2017. However, it stabilised over the recent months, recording $34.97 billion at the end of September 2023.