Egypt Pound Little Changed at FX Auction, Weakens on Black Market

The Egyptian pound inched slightly lower at a central bank foreign exchange auction on Thursday, but the currency weakened by much more on the black market.

The bank said it sold $38.8 million to banks at the auction, with the cut-off price weaker at 6.9835 Egyptian pounds to the dollar compared to 6.9813 at Wednesday’s auction.

On the black market, the currency weakened, with one dealer in central Cairo quoting 7.58 pounds to buy dollars and 7.63 pounds to sell dollars, compared to 7.48 and 7.51 on Wednesday.

The central bank introduced the auctions at the end of December to help stave off a currency crisis and thwart a run on the pound. Since then, the currency has lost almost 11 percent of its value on the official market.

Source: Reuters