Egyptian banks to start accepting Russian Mir cards shortly

Transactions with the Russian national currency in Egyptian banks and with cards of the Russian payment system Mir may become effective shortly," Egypt's Al-Shorouk newspaper said.

According to the newspaper's sources in the economic and tourism sphere, "The Mir system and transactions with the Russian ruble in Egyptian banks at tourist resorts can be put in place in coming days."

The same sources denied that the delay with the Mir system's introduction in Egypt and with banking transactions "was related to doubts of Turkish banks regarding their application after the US had warned about introduction of sanctions against countries that would accept Russian payment cards for servicing."

Egyptian businessmen and hotel operators and owners approached the Central Bank of Egypt and requested to finalize procedures to accept the ruble as the trading currency, for the use of an official ratio between the Russian ruble and the Egyptian pound from the start of the winter tourist season, the newspaper said.

This decision "will be interests of the tourist sector and will have an overall positive effect for the country's economy," the Egyptian business community said, cited by the newspaper.

BSS/TASS