Several Egyptian banks had lowered foreign currency credit card spending limitations.
The CIB decreased the monthly foreign currency cash withdrawal limit to EGP 2,000 for the lowest card segments and EGP 6,500 for the highest segment.
The bank also decreased the monthly foreign currency purchase limit to EGP 15,000 for the lowest card segments and EGP 100,000 for the highest segment.
CIB has six segments of credit cards, including Prime, Plus, Wealth, private, business banking, and corporate.
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Egypt also updated international transaction limits for its credit cards, setting cash withdrawal limits for “Business – Classic – Gold – Titanium” cards to $50 per month, down from a withdrawal limit between $100 daily and $500 monthly.
The bank reduced the monthly foreign currency cash withdrawal limit for holders of Platinum credit cards to $100 from $300, adjusting the international purchase limits on Titanium cards to $750 monthly, down from $1,500.
Egyptian banks have limited credit card foreign currency spending since 2022 to halt the exhaustion of foreign currency resources amid a server shortage.
In December, a group of Egyptian banks suspended international transactions for newly issued credit cards for up to six months as of the date of issuance. Among the suspended cards are those issued by the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, and the Commercial International Bank (CIB).
On 17 October, the Central Bank of Egypt issued new instructions to regulate the use of credit cards for transactions in foreign currencies amid concerns of misuse.
Local banks had already suspended hard currency cash withdrawals and purchases for debit card users on 9 October.
