CAIRO, March 6 (Reuters) - Egypt's central bank said on Sunday it would hold an exceptional auction for $500 million, pumping more foreign exchange into an economy that has been starved of dollars.
Egypt's pound has been depreciating rapidly on the black market over the past week, piling pressure on the central bank to adjust the official rate of 7.73 pounds to the dollar. It reached 9.50 to the dollar on the black market on Thursday.
The central bank normally sells no more than $40 million at its regular forex auctions, which are held three times a week.
The auction would be held at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT), the central bank said in an annoucement to traders.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein, writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) ((lin.noueihed@thomsonreuters.com; +202 2 394 8039; Reuters Messaging: lin.noueihed.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Egypt's pound has been depreciating rapidly on the black market over the past week, piling pressure on the central bank to adjust the official rate of 7.73 pounds to the dollar. It reached 9.50 to the dollar on the black market on Thursday.
The central bank normally sells no more than $40 million at its regular forex auctions, which are held three times a week.
The auction would be held at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT), the central bank said in an annoucement to traders.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein, writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) ((lin.noueihed@thomsonreuters.com; +202 2 394 8039; Reuters Messaging: lin.noueihed.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
