Egypt Central Bank’s Exceptional Sale Drives Dollar to 2-month Low in Week

In a week, the US dollar’s prices against the Egyptian pound have fallen below EGP 7 for the first time since June, triggered by the Central Bank’s exceptional auction offered on September 4th. The greenback’s prices hit EGP 6.91 for buying and EGP 6.94 for selling last Thursday, against EGP 6.99 for buying and EGP 7.016 for selling last Sunday.

It is worth noting that the US dollar’s prices exceeded the 7 pounds levels on June 24, reporting EGP 7.002 for buying and EGP 7.04 for selling.

The Egyptian pound jumped 1.2 percent on Wednesday at a $1.3-billion foreign currency sale – its biggest ever – as the Egyptian Central Bank (CBE) gambled a large chunk of its reserves to show that Egypt’s economic turbulence was coming to an end.

Wednesday’s FX auction was designed to finance strategic imports such as wheat, meat and cooking oil, the central bank said when it announced the sale on Tuesday, its largest since the $800 million it offered in May.

For the black market, the US dollar’s prices also dipped driven by the CBE’s exceptional auction last Wednesday, reporting a decrease of EGP 7.7 piasters.