The Egyptian pound held steady against the dollar at an official foreign currency auction on Sunday but was stronger on the black market, with traders limiting transactions to regular clients after the central bank began a crackdown on unofficial trading.
Egypt, which depends heavily on imports, is facing a foreign currency crisis and is under increasing pressure to devalue the pound, but the bank surprised markets when it strengthened the pound by 20 piasters in November and held it steady ever since.
The central bank sold US$38.8 million at a cut-off price of LE7.7301 to the dollar on Sunday, unchanged from the previous auction.
The official rate is still far stronger than the black market rate, which ranged between LE9.17 per dollar to LE9.22, two traders said. That compares to LE9.25 per dollar on Thursday.
Trading for dollars in the black market is now limited to regular customers, traders said, as they feared a government crackdown. Last week the central bank shut down four exchange bureaus.
Egypt has been starved of foreign currency since an uprising in 2011 ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak but drove away tourists and foreign investors — major sources of hard currency.
($1 = LE7.8300)
