The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has maintained the Egyptian pound at a stable rate of 8.78 against the US dollar at its weekly forex auction on Tuesday.
The CBE sold $118.1 million of the $120 million it offers weekly to local banks, according to figures on CBE's website.
Egypt, which relies heavily on imports, particularly foodstuffs, has been suffering an acute shortage of US dollars in the wake of political and security unrest following the 2011 revolution, which has scared away tourists and foreign investors, two major sources of hard currency.
In March, the CBE announced a 13.5 percent devaluation of the pound, since then, the EGP has remained stable, although economists have said they expected a further depreciation in recent weeks following statements by the bank's governor Tarek Amer.
In July, Amer told various private and public newspapers that artificially boosting the value of the pound over the past five years was a “grave mistake.”
Egypt's foreign reserves almost halved since 2011 to reach $16.6 billion in August, with the government currently seeking a $12 billion fund facility from the International Monetary Fund to support the ailing economy.
