Pound stable at regular dollar sale and on black market

folarin okunola

August 23, 2016 9:59 PM

Egypt is facing an acute dollar shortage that sent its foreign reserves down to $15.5 billion in July, near a critical level that would cover only three months of imports.

Egypt's pound notes are pictured in stacks of 100 as employees count money at an exchange office in downtown Cairo in a file photo. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Egypt's central bank held the pound steady against the dollar at its regular foreign currency sale on Tuesday as the currency remained stable on the black market.

The bank sold $118 million at an unchanged rate of 8.78 per dollar.

A widening gap between official and black market rates for the dollar has increased pressure to devalue the currency. Two black market traders cited a selling range of 12.50-12.65 pounds per dollar on Tuesday but gave no indication of trade volumes.

Egypt has reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund over a $12 billion three-year lending programme that it hopes will plug the nation's funding gap and restore market confidence, encouraging investment that could help to ease the currency crunch.

folarin okunola

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