The exchange rate of US dollar by the end of this week remained with stable for the fifth day in a row at EGP 6.73 (buy price) and EGP 6.76 (sell price). Hatem El-Gendy, Chairman of Al-Rawdah foreign exchange firm, said despite the Central Bank's offering FX auction on Thursday, the US currency has not witnessed any change. He added that the exchange market used to witness an increase in dollar's price against the national currency after the Central Bank offers foreign currency to local banks. On Thursday, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has offered US$ 40 million to local banks on Thursday, with a maximum of US$ 6 million to each bank at its 25th FX auction and the ninth one since the appointment of Hisham Ramez, governor of CBE, sources said. The maximum value of dollars offered at FX auctions was US$ 75 million, while the market requires US$ 110 million daily as stated by Mahmoud Fayez, former manager of the Federation of Egyptian Banks (FEB). After assuming the responsibilities of his new position, Ramez started offering US$ 75 million at an auction, then US$ 50 million at two auctions and US$ 40 million at the latest six auctions, bringing the amount that CBE offered since the appointment of Ramez to US$ 415 million. Ramez said in an interview on CBC channel that CBE reduced the value of dollars offered at auctions so as to meet the country's requirements of main commodities imports. The decisions adopted by the recently-assigned governor have contributed to curb the significant rise in the dollar's value. Dr. Ramez has taken a number of procedures to curb dollar's constant rise against the national currency such as cancelling the 1% commission that had been placed on banks and forex firms, limiting the number of currency auctions to just two a week, and limiting the range of rates at which banks could sell and buy currency from one another. Upon his instructions, the central bank has also tightened the pound's trading band in the interbank foreign exchange market. Accordingly, Banks may now only buy or sell dollars or their equivalent to other banks in a band of 0.01 pounds above or below the weighted average bid at the central bank's regular currency auctions, the dealer said. Previously, the limit had been 0.5 percent above or below the average bid.
