Booking.com, a Dutch online travel agency for lodging reservations & other travel products, announced Wednesday the stoppage of supporting the Egyptian pound starting from Thursday, Sept. 22.
This announcement means that users of the website will no longer be able to use the Egyptian currency in paying for their bookings.
The company attributed the decision to the currency fluctuations, stating that it’s to ensure the currency fluctuations don’t affect the customer’s rewards and wallet experience.
The company will convert the wallet currency and balances for users who apply the Egyptian currency to dollar (USD) using the exchange rate at the time of each conversion.
The Egyptian pound has witnessed an accelerating decline in recent weeks, amid expectations of experts that the Central Bank will continue to gradually reduce the currency until it reaches levels ranging between LE 21-22 per dollar. This is in order to ensure the flexibility of the exchange rate required by the International Monetary Fund, with which Egypt is seeking to sign an imminent agreement with which to obtain a new loan.
Previously, Jihad Azour, director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund, said that negotiations to obtain new funding are continuing with Egypt and things are progressing according to the set schedule.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli said earlier that the Egyptian government is in the final stage of talks with the International Monetary Fund on a new funding.
In July, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said Egypt is working out the remaining points of difference with the IMF over a new extended fund facility.
Maait affirmed to Al-Arabiya that the talks with the IMF are ongoing and that they have achieved “very, very good progress”, noting that the value of the loan has not yet been set.