Yet again, the banks are closed. They have been closed for three days, Monday, Tuesday, and now Wednesday. In fact, since I have been here (Jan 25th), the banks have only been opened one time. No one is sure exactly why they are closed. They may be closed due to impending strikes. They may be closed due to a potential run on the bank. Yesterday they were closed due to the prophets birthday. It is very difficult to understand how an economy can function when the banks are never open.
(Feb 18, 2011) The banks are still not here. I arrived back in the country on Saturday night. The banks were open on Sunday, but were closed every other day of this week. Some say the banks are closed so that the wealthy can withdraw their money. Who knows?
(Feb 18, 2011) The banks are still not here. I arrived back in the country on Saturday night. The banks were open on Sunday, but were closed every other day of this week. Some say the banks are closed so that the wealthy can withdraw their money. Who knows?
My understanding in this issue is the contrary. banks are closed in order to forbid large transfers to be done during this time and the stolen money won't run form the country to foreign accounts. A lot of company are suffering from this issue because of the restrictions on money transfer. large companies are doing large transfers and the restriction is slowing their business.
ReplyDeleteYasmine. That is a very interesting perspective. It is good to know that.
ReplyDeleteWell i think that the issue of banks closing every day and another is going to cause a huge problem. Because what is happening now is people withdrawing money to keep cash because they don't know whether the banks are going to open tomorrow or not.
ReplyDeleteUsually banks never close in Egypt more than three consecutive days; however the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided to close banks on Sunday the 13th of Feb. 2011 after noon due to the strikes that took place by the employees of 18 Banks in the country.Some of these employees had very irrational demands such as hiring their children in the bank, and having a permanent contract However, some of these bankers had the right to go on strike as they have been suffering from the reforms that have been taking place in these national banks.
ReplyDeleteBanks were never closed to forbid large transactions. The Central Bank of Egypt has announced new rules governing all transactions to ensure that large outflows do not take place. Actually, auditors of the Central Bank of Egypt are monitoring all transactions nowadays, showing in banks without any advance notice. In addition, the Stock Exchange blocked the assets of a number of people and is now tracking the assets of a number of people ( the prohibited list of investors) to ensure that these people don't engage in any buy or sell transaction when the stock exchanges open.
ReplyDeleteI think that the issue of closing the banks caused huge problems to the companies and is not a wise decision.
ReplyDelete