Egyptian pound steady at official auction, weaker on black market

Cairo (Capital Markets in Africa):– Egypt’s central bank kept the pound steady at 7.53 to the dollar at a foreign exchange auction on Sunday, while the currency weakened on the black market.

The central bank has held the official exchange rate steady for more than three months since letting the pound weaken at the beginning of 2015. This weakening and other measures have helped reduce black market trading significantly.

In Sunday’s auction, the bank said it had offered $40 million and sold $37.8 million at a cut-off price of 7.5301 pounds per dollar, unchanged from Thursday’s rate.

On the black market, the pound was trading at 7.67 pounds to the dollar on Sunday, a trader said, weaker than the 7.65 pounds quoted on Thursday.

Black market traders say volumes have fallen sharply since the central bank’s drive to stamp out their transactions, including the introduction of a cap in February on the amount of dollars that can be deposited in banks.

Source: Reuters Africa Business Online News