Egypt’s central bank has increased the amount of US dollars local companies can deposit with banks to $250,000 a month, from the previous cap of $50,000.

The central bank has applied the amendments to what it calls ‘high-priority’ sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food, machinery equipment and manufacturing.

Although the central bank’s actions aim to increase the availability of dollars to the local banks, it will not be sufficient enough to ease the increasing liquidity pressures of foreign currencies that Egyptian banks face. “New dollar deposit limits [are] still be below the demanded amounts necessary to finance imports,” according to US ratings agency Moody’s Investers Service in a sector comment published on 1 February.

Daily deposit limits were introduced in February 2015 to curb the growing black market for foreign exchange, which local businesses turned to when they were unable to access dollars through the banking system.

The central bank has introduced several measures aimed at protecting the country’s foreign reserves. The availability of foreign currencies has been limited since the 2011 uprising, with foreign currency reserves declining to $16.4bn as of December 2015, according to central bank figures.

To limit the outflow of dollars, the authorities introduced regulations in 2011 that limited the transfers of dollars by individuals. Although the rules allowed transfers by companies for any amount, the daily cash withdrawal limit was set at $30,000.

According to Moody’s the central bank’s measures have not been successful in easing the banks’ foreign-currency liquidity pressures. “Banks’ loan-to-deposit ratios in foreign currencies rose to 69 per cent in September 2015 from 56 per cent in 2012, while their foreign currency liquidity ratios fell to 49 per cent in September 2015 (still above the 25 per cent regulatory minimum) from 56 per cent in 2012.”