In a statement on Tuesday, Egypt's Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil said that he is sure the Central Bank has a plan to tackle foreign currency problems, and refrained from speculating on whether the central bank would float the EGP or timing of the decision. In the “long term,” free-floating the EGP is a good thing, he said in a Cairo conference, adding that the spread between the official and parallel market rates, along with the availability of hard currency, are the biggest issues confronting trade and industry at present, and the International Monetary Fund’s USD12bn loan will “definitely” help solve these problems. (Bloomberg)