Egypt's finance minister announced Wednesday that the exchange rate of the customs dollar will remain at 16.5 pounds against the dollar – the same rate as April – during the month of June, effective Thursday. The official exchange rate of the Egyptian pound against the greenback is 18 pounds, according to three major banks in Egypt surveyed on Wednesday. In January, when the official exchange rate reached 19 pounds, the central bank started fixing the exchange rate of the customs dollar on a monthly or 15-day basis. The customs exchange is set at a rate that is slightly lower than the official exchange rate. Last November, the CBE freely floated the pound from its fixed rate of 8.88 pounds against the dollar as part of a set of economic reforms aimed at boosting Egypt's flagging economy. Egypt's foreign reserves edged up to $28.641 billion at the end of April from $28.5 billion at the end of March. The country's foreign reserves have been climbing since Egypt secured a $12 billion three-year loan from the International Monetary Fund in November. Egypt held roughly $36 billion in reserves before the 2011 uprising that overthrew long-time president Hosni Mubarak, ushering in a period of political turmoil that scared away tourists and foreign investors – two key sources of foreign currency. Source: Ahram Online
