Hawala operators expect windfall Saturday, 05 February 2011 01:32

DOHA: People running unofficial remittance channels (hawala) between Qatar and Egypt literally anticipate a ‘windfall’ if the demonstrations continue in Egypt as that would aggravate inflation and further weaken the local currency.

The operators ‘hope’ that with rising inflation back home, Egyptian expatriates here would be compelled to remit more funds to their families to help them keep pace with galloping prices.

And since banks and exchange houses remain closed in Egypt, they expect the expatriates here would be forced to use the black market for remittances.

The Qatari Riyal-Egyptian Pound rate, though remained unchanged in the unofficial remittance market here yesterday at 1.9 pounds per riyal—Wednesday’s rate—operators expect a ‘brisk’ business from today. The official riyal-pound rate has also jumped to 1.7 pounds to a riyal, although official remittances continue to be inactive.

Meanwhile, dollars are selling like hot cake in Cairo as foreigners desperate to leave trouble-torn Egypt are willing to cough up any sums in the local currency to grab the greenback.

The demand for the American currency is so much that one dollar is available for up to 200 Egyptian pounds while the official rate is six pounds to a dollar.

An Egyptian writer who holds a US passport, Rawia, told The Peninsula on the phone from Cairo yesterday that she had seen some thugs in the streets of Cairo beating up foreigners.

“I saw some anti-social elements rough up a foreigner and his wife. They snatched their mobile phones and 900 pounds in cash they were carrying with them,” said Rawia.

“Foreigners are being targeted here. They aren’t safe any more,” she said, talking particularly of Westerners.

Nationals of the US, Lebanon, Kuwait, Japan and Turkey have already left en masse, evacuated by their countries’ embassies and flown out in special planes.

A feminist with left leanings, Rawia said anti-social elements had burned down Cairo’s biggest shopping centre—Carrefour—and plundered it completely.

According to her, while the Internet and mobile phones were partially working, she suspected Intelligence agencies were scrutinising calls since many people are complaining that they don’t hear a ring tone after dialing a number. “Even I am experiencing such a thing,” she said.

Food supplies are getting scarce and basic items like rice, wheat flour, vegetables and eggs are becoming too expensive for the common man to afford.

The Peninsula

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