State Pension

DairyQueen

I don't think that Egypt is on the list of countries with a reciprocal state security agreement so no indexation on state pension?

No idea of the inflation rate in Egypt.

xylophone

I don't think that Egypt is on the list of countries with a reciprocal state security agreement so no indexation on state pension?

It seems not
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pensions-annual-increases-if-you-live-abroad/countries-where-we-pay-an-annual-increase-in-the-state-pension
but

Yes I have received the letter and have a reference number.
I am in Egypt on holiday at the moment and am getting Access Denied on the website.
I am retired and have had long holidays, 5 or 6 months some years.
Is that classed as living abroad?

wkt54

Xylophone
I spend 6 months here and 6 months in my apartment in the UK.
3 years ago an expat told me interest rates were very good in Egypt.
I went to the bank and he said 15%.
I opened an account and transferred my savings from my Nationwide Flex account.
I was getting 125 pounds a week.
It has gradually gone down and is now 8%.
I am getting the pension in the Nationwide.
Thanks again for all the advice.

NottinghamKnight

wkt54 said:

Xylophone
I spend 6 months here and 6 months in my apartment in the UK.
3 years ago an expat told me interest rates were very good in Egypt.
I went to the bank and he said 15%.
I opened an account and transferred my savings from my Nationwide Flex account.
I was getting 125 pounds a week.
It has gradually gone down and is now 8%.
I am getting the pension in the Nationwide.
Thanks again for all the advice.

Yes, but how much has the Egyptian pound devalued against sterling in that time. It would be a problem if you were transferring the other way again, as you can't, but for just spending in Egypt then that isn't a problem.

wkt54

In November 2016 it was 11EP for 1 sterling.
Overnight it was 21.
It's still 20.5 today.

garmeg

wkt54 said:

In November 2016 it was 11EP for 1 sterling.
Overnight it was 21.
It's still 20.5 today.

If you had £1 in 2016 and earned no interest you would still have £1.

If you had EP11 in 2016 and earned 15% pa for 4 years you would have EP19.23 now worth 94p using the 20.5 rate.

So you are worse off despite the high interest rate.

Had you earned 1% pa in the UK you are 10% worse off converting to EP.

Of course, it could have gone the other way.

I guess inflation must be quite high in Egypt based on the interest rate offered, If you are spending the interest you are eroding your savings significantly which may or may not be a problem.

wkt54

If I had transferred my savings before November 2016, they would have halved overnight.
After they devalued the pound everything went up, food, petrol and especially in pharmacies.
It didn't matter to us as we were now getting 21 instead of 11, but it did the egyptian people.
Their wages are low enough as it is.
Don't know much about inflation garmeg. or how it affects interest rates.

NottinghamKnight

Garmeg has just shown the high interest rates have not been beneficial, as someone earning in a hard currency the situation is fairly neutral, you definitely haven't benefitted from the nominal higher rate in local currency. As you say it hasn't affected you too badly but has been terrible for locals who earn in local currency but have to pay for many things that are imported and priced in dollars or euros. There have often also been restrictions on movement of hard currencies out of weak economies, as the governments and central banks are not able to finance this, as a tourist you may have to retain receipts to show that you have exchanged hard currency and would be able to change back, this is sometimes restricted to a percentage of the sum initially exchanged.

wkt54

I was getting 0.5% interest on my savings in my Nationwide Flex account, about 5 pounds a week.
When I transferred my savings to the egyptian bank account, and was getting 15% interest at the time, I was getting 125 pounds a week interest.
How is that not beneficial?

NottinghamKnight

wkt54 said:

I was getting 0.5% interest on my savings in my Nationwide Flex account, about 5 pounds a week.
When I transferred my savings to the egyptian bank account, and was getting 15% interest at the time, I was getting 125 pounds a week interest.
How is that not beneficial?

Because the local currency has devalued against sterling or any other hard currency, it's a common trend across africa, the middle east and parts of asia. And you will have noticed the price of imported goods going up in shops for example.