Reuters – The Egyptian pound weakened at a central bank dollar auction and on the black market on Wednesday after hitting a six-month low last week.
The central bank sold dollars at a cut-off price of EGP 6.9652, leaving the pound weaker than at its last auction on Monday when the rate was EGP 6.9649.
The dollar on the black market was sold for EGP 7.49 on Wednesday compared with EGP 7.45 on Monday, according to market participants. One Cairo-based forex trader said the dollar was sold at EGP 7.52 on Tuesday evening. Another trader said the rate was EGP 7.48 on Tuesday.
It had been trading in a loose range around EGP 7.30-7.40 for the last two months.
The central bank sold $38.3m at its dollar sale on Monday. It had offered $40m.
Egypt’s foreign currency reserves stood at $17.414bn in March. This compares with $17.307bn in February and $36bn before the uprising that led to the ouster former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
