Reuters – The Egyptian pound was up slightly at a central bank foreign currency sale on Thursday and traded within its recent range on the black market.
The central bank sold $39.6m to banks with a cut-off price of 6.9511 pounds to the dollar, fractionally stronger than the cut-off price of 6.9512 from Wednesday’s auction. The bank had offered to sell $40m.
On the black market, the dollar was traded for 7.30/33 pounds on Thursday, within a range between 7.30 and 7.35 over the past week. The dollar was trading at 7.33/7.35 pounds on Wednesday.
The pound has been under pressure during three years of political turmoil. Foreign currency reserves were around $17bn in January, down from $36bn before the uprising that led to president Hosni Mubarak’s downfall in 2011.
The central bank introduced dollar currency sales over a year ago. Last month, it held a $1.5bn exceptional auction, its largest ever, to restock the market with dollars and curb unofficial currency trading.
