By: Ahmed Allam
Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt's central bank kept the pound steady against the US dollar at its official foreign currency auction on Tuesday, central bank data showed, and the currency was stronger on the black market.
The bank sold $118.8 million at a cut-off price of EGP 8.78 per dollar, unchanged from last week.
Two currency traders cited EGP 11.75 per dollar as the black market rate on Tuesday.
Earlier, Egypt’s central bank governor Tarek Amer pointed out that the Egyptian pound may see further devaluation against the dollar.
The bank has kept the pound strong since it devalued the currency in March to EGP 8.78 per dollar from EGP 7.7301 and announced a more flexible exchange rate policy.
Egypt faces shortage in hard currency following the decline of the revenues of the Suez Canal, tourism, exports and remittances of Egyptians working abroad, which are all considered the country’s main foreign currency sources.
Translated by: Shaimaa El-Sarky
