FLIGHT FROM EGYPT

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 149, 21 December 1936, Page 14

FLIGHT FROM EGYPT

1 Large quantities of foreign capital are leaving Egypt, largely owing to fears that the Government may devalue the piastre, which stands at 97i and is tied to sterling. Most of this capital has gone to London. Ever since the devaluation-of the franc rumours that the Egyptian Government intends to follow suit have been circulating; among foreign financial circles despite official statements that this step would not be taken. Even . the categorical assurance by Makram Pasha, the Finance^ Minister, that as long as he remained . in office there would be no devaluation has failed to remove the fears in business circles. In official quarters devaluation is considered practically' impossible at present. A leading financial authority declared: "If the Egyptian Government is sensible.it will not consider separation of the piastre from sterling, but it is impossible to say whether the Government will withstand the pressure from its land-owning supporters, who regard devaluation, with the consequent rise in cotton prices, as the only possible course."