Egypt's central bank kept the pound steady at 7.53 to the dollar at a foreign exchange auction on Thursday while the currency was also unchanged on the black market. The central bank has kept the official exchange rate steady for more than two months since letting the pound weaken at the beginning of 2015. This step and other measures have helped to reduce black market trading significantly.
The bank said it had offered $40 million at auction on Thursday and sold $38.5 million at a cut-off price of 7.5301 pounds per dollar, unchanged from Wednesday's auction. The rates at which banks are allowed to trade dollars are determined by the results of official auctions, giving the central bank effective control over exchange rates.
The pound was trading at 7.69 pounds to the dollar on the parallel market on Thursday, one trader said, unchanged from the price quoted on Wednesday. Black market traders say that 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.
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