CAIRO: The Egyptian pound was unchanged at a central bank foreign currency sale yesterday, the bank said, and steady on the black market, according to a market participant.
The central bank sold $38.3m to banks with a cut-off price of 6.9516 pounds to the dollar, unchanged from the last auction on Monday. The bank had offered to sell up to $40m. On the black market, the market participant said the dollar was changing hands at 7.31/33 pounds — around recent levels.
The central bank introduced dollar currency sales a year ago. Last month it held a $1.5bn exceptional auction, its largest ever, to restock the market with much-needed dollars and curb the unofficial currency market.
The country’s foreign currency reserves stood at $17bn in December, down from $36bn on the eve of the uprising that led to president Hosni Mubarak’s downfall in 2011.
Reuters
