Egypt's currency drops to new low against the dollar


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

CAIRO (AP) — The Egyptian pound has fallen to a new low against the U.S. dollar, the second such drop in days, the country's central bank said Sunday, in a move that could help boost much-needed foreign investment.

The central bank set a cutoff rate of 7.73 Egyptian pounds per dollar in an auction that sold $39.6 million on Sunday, compared to a previous low of 7.63 on Thursday. Before that, the pound had held at 7.53 since February.

The new rate was the lowest level since the Egyptian government introduced an auction system in December 2012 aimed at regulating the pound's devaluation.

"It's welcome to have, within the current context, a weaker pound because the economy is shifting toward a growth mode so one of the key ways to push this growth forward is through foreign exchange," said Mohamed Abu Basha, an economist at regional investment giant EFG Hermes.

Investors and economists see the currency as overvalued and the central bank had allowed the pound to slide somewhat before a major investor summit in March.

The central bank has also allowed commercial banks a wider margin for selling and buying dollars since January, at 0.10 pounds above or below the official rate.

Egypt's government is trying to send the message that the country is open for business, after struggling since the 2011 uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak. It has launched a series of ambitious mega-projects and pushed through a host of tough measures, including slashing fuel subsidies and amending the property tax law.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent Business stories

Related topics

Business
MERRIT KENNEDY

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast