Foreign currency inflows into Egyptian banks at $17 bln since pound float

Foreign currency inflows into the Egyptian banking system have reached about $17 billion since the Egyptian pound was floated in November, a central bank deputy governor told Egypt’s state news agency MENA on Sunday.

The central bank raised interest rates by 3 percent and abandoned its currency peg of 8.8 pounds per dollar on November 3, causing the pound to halve in value.

The moves were intended to unlock foreign currency inflows and end a black market for dollars that had sucked foreign currency from the banking system.

The pound traded at about 18.2 to the dollar on Sunday.