Egypt govt working with CBE to ease currency pressures

Egypt's government is working with the central bank to ease downward pressure on the currency by trying to boost exports and regulate imports, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said on Tuesday.

"It is the central bank's job but the government is working with it through several methods, one is obviously to increase our exports and regulate imports," he said in a news conference in Sharm al-Sheikh.

Egypt has been suffering from an acute dollar shortage that has left imports piling up at ports with companies unable to open letters of credit in order to clear them.