CAIRO: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has kept the pound steady at 7.73 per dollar in a foreign exchange (FX) auction on Sunday, unchanged from last sale, the bank posted on its website.
The bank offered $40 million and sold $38.4 million at a cut-off price of 7.73 EGP per dollar,” the bank said Sunday.
The dollar was sold at banks at 7.83 EGP on Sunday, 0.10 EGP above the official rate. Meanwhile, the local currency weakened to 7.95 per dollar at exchange bureaus, lower than Thursday’s rates, ranging between 7.92 and 7.93 EGP per dollar.
Egypt’s central bank usually holds FX auctions on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday every week. Such auctions determine the rates at which banks can sell the dollar to clients.
Earlier in July, the CBE allowed the local currency to weaken in two consecutive depreciations in less than a week each by 10 piasters, after keeping it steady at 7.53 per dollar for five straight months.
July devaluations dragged the pound to its lowest level since the CBE started FX auctions in December 2012.