The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) reportedly gave verbal instructions to banks on Sunday to begin financing imports of non-essential goods, requiring that liquidity must come from the interbank market. Some bankers, however, say the interbank requirement will discourage financing non-essential imports. The alleged decision comes after importers had complained that they had to source foreign currency from the parallel market as banks have been withholding it for non-essential products. On Thursday, the Central Bank revealed that during the period between 3-15 November, banks have availed a total of USD2.492bn for imports of food, production inputs, and pharmaceutical products through short-term loans to importers and letters of credit. (Reuters, Al Borsa)