Egypt is a popular tourist destination and numerous people are interested in sending international monetary transfers to the country.
If you have a business in Egypt, you already know the best prices, the quickest services and the most reliable methods for sending money to Egypt. In both instances, you have to carefully choose money transfer services because some of them come with high charges and hidden fees.
We have a remote team with people in 19 different countries around the world. The two transfer methods we use the most are:
Take a look at the tables below to figure out how much it will cost you to send money to Egypt. Pay attention to our black market notes as Egypt’s government has instituted, “Foreign exchange controls.”
Table 1 – Sending $1000 from the US to Egypt | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Transfer Method | Receiving Currency Option | Stated fees to send $1000 USD | Hidden currency conversion cost | Total cost | Time for the transfer to arrive | ||
OFX (previously USForex)* | EGP | $0 | $7.5 | $7.5 | 1-2 days | ||
Ria Money Transfer (slow) | EGP | $5 | $15 | $20 | 3-5 days | ||
XE Trade | USD | $0 | $25 | $25 | 3-5 days | ||
MoneyGram (slow) | USD | $25 | $0 | $25 | 3-5 days | ||
Western Union (slow) | EGP | $25 | $0.4 | $25.4 | 6-8 days | ||
Ria Money Transfer (fast) | EGP | $15 | $15 | $30 | Minutes | ||
Payoneer | EGP | $9 | $25 | $34 | 3-5 days | ||
Western Union (fast) | EGP | $40 | $0.4 | $40.4 | 3-5 days | ||
MoneyGram (fast) | USD | $81 | $0 | $81 | Minutes | ||
Wire transfer | EGP | $25-55 | $10-30 | $35-85 | 3-5 days |
Table 2: Sending Money to Egypt from Different Countries. The TOTAL Cost in Percentages including the HIDDEN currency exchange fees. | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Transfer Method | Receiving Currency Option | From the US | From the UK | From Canada | From Western Europe | From Australia | |
Small World FS | EUR | Not available | 4.6% | Not available | 0% | Not available | |
OFX (previously USForex) | USD, GBP, CAD, EUR, AUD | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% | |
Xendpay | USD | Not available | 0.01% | 2.7% | 0.1% | 2.6% | |
Ria Money Transfer | EGP | 2% | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | |
XE Trade | USD, GBP, CAD, EUR, AUD | 2.5% | 2.8% | 2.7% | 2.2% | 3.5% | |
Payoneer | EGP | 3.4% | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | |
Azimo | EGP | Not available | 1.7% | Not available | 1.7% | Not available | |
Wire transfer | EGP | 2.5 – 5.5% | 2 – 4.5% | 2.5 – 5.5% | 2 – 4.5% | 3 – 6.5% | |
Exchange4free | USD & EUR | Not available | 4% | 4.2% | 0% | 4.1% | |
Western Union | EGP & USD | 2.5% | 3.3% | 7.1% | 6.4% | 4.8% | |
Send Money 24 | USD | Not available | 8.4% | Not available | Not available | Not available | |
MoneyGram | USD | 2.5% | 10% | 8.8% | 8.8% | 5.1% |
Important:
Egypt’s government has instituted Foreign Exchange Controls. From Wikipedia:
“Foreign exchange controls are various forms of controls imposed by a government on the purchase/sale of foreign currencies by residents or on the purchase/sale of local currency by nonresidents. Often, foreign exchange controls can result in the creation of black markets to exchange the weaker currency for stronger currencies. This leads to a situation where the exchange rate for the foreign currency is much higher than the rate set by the government, and therefore creates a shadow currency exchange market.”
The official exchange rate has been unchanged for almost six months at 7.1401 per dollar, while on the black market it fell to 7.71 per dollar on Dec 9, 2014, according to the average of four dealers surveyed by Bloomberg.
However the bank allowed the Egyptian Pound (EGP) to reach 7.24 EGP per Dollar. In the black market it reached 7.87 EGP per dollar on Jan 19, 2015. Black market rates are 8% higher.
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