Egypt's Amer Sees Import Rules Saving $20 Billion in 2016

Egypt’s central bank Governor Tarek Amer said rules to curb what he described as unnecessary imports may save about $20 billion this year, helping to ease a foreign-exchange squeeze threatening the nation’s economic recovery.

“The largest demand for foreign exchange comes from imports, so these measures are a quick fix to improve the balance of payments," Amer said in an interview with Bloomberg News in his Cairo office on Tuesday, his first with an international news organization since he assumed the position in November. “Egypt has been flooded with cheap, low-quality goods and we are trying to regulate this market.”