On Thursday, the U.S. dollar's exchange rate against the Egyptian pound has reached EGP 6.7174 (buy price) and EGP 6.81 (sell price), representing an increase of EGP 0.3. Egypt's Central Bank (CBE) has offered US$ 50 million to local banks on Thursday at its 16th FX auction which provides local banks with the U.S. currency. Belal Khalil, Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Exchange Division of the Federation of the Chamber of Commerce, said dollar's EGP 0.3 rise was driven by the CBE's 16th auction in order to provide the local banks with the U.S. currency aiming to help preserve foreign fund reserves. Khalil noted that the demand for the U.S. dollar has become less stronger despite the country's current political developments and recent violence. CBE launched the FX auction at the beginning of this month in order to slow the country's depletion of foreign reserves. The value of dollar registered 6.37 (Sell price) at the beginning of launching this new system and hiked to EGP 6.78 (sell price). This is the last FX auction before Farouk El-Okdah's official resignation on Thursday. The total amounts that CBE has offered in 16 FX auctions are as follows: Date Offer Value Sunday, December 30th, 2012 US$ 75 million Monday, December 31th, 2012 US$ 75 million Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013 US$ 75 million Thursday, January 3rd, 2013 US$ 75 million Sunday, January 6th, 2013 US$ 60 million Tuesday, January 8th, 2013 US$ 60 million Wednesday, January 9th, 2013 US$ 50 million Thursday, January 10th, 2013 US$ 50 million Sunday, January 13th, 2013 US$ 75 million Tuesday, January 15th, 2013 US$ 75 million Thursday, January 17th, 2013 US$ 75 million Sunday, January 29th, 2013 US$ 75 million Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013 US$ 75 million Sunday, January 27th, 2013 US$ 50 million Tuesday, January 29th, 2013 US$ 50 million Thursday, January 31st, 2013 US$ 50 million Total Value US$ 1.07 billion
