The Central Bank of Egypt ordered Wednesday a permanent cancellation of licenses of nine exchange firms operating in the Egyptian market over speculation on currency prices in the shadow market, a senior CBE official said Wednesday.

They had been involved repeatedly in the illegal practice, said CBE Deputy Governor Gamal Nagm.

He asserted that the CBE was entitled to take such action under a new law.

The US Dollar exchange rate has exceeded 11 EGP on the parallel market