Reuters – The Egyptian pound strengthened fractionally at an official auction on Thursday, but weakened slightly on the black market.
The central bank said it sold $38.8 million to banks at its auction, at a cut-off price of 6.8774 pounds to the dollar, compared with 6.8775 at a sale on Wednesday.
One trader in the black market said he bought the dollar for 7.27 pounds and sold it for 7.30 pounds on Thursday compared with 7.26 pounds to buy and 7.29 to sell on Wednesday.
The central bank introduced dollar sales last December to help counter a run on the pound. It has burned through at least $20 billion – or roughly half – of its reserves since a 2011 revolt that led to the overthrow of long-time president Hosni Mubarak as political turmoil since then has hammered the tourism sector and investment.
