Reuters – Egypt’s pound strengthened marginally against the dollar at a central bank dollar sale on Monday after weakening at the previous two sessions, and also firmed slightly on the black market.

The central bank sold $38.3m to banks with a cut-off price of EGP 6.9575, compared with Thursday’s EGP 6.9576.

Dollar shortages have been fuelling a thriving black market. A trader on the parallel market said the dollar traded at EGP 7.39 on Monday, up slightly from Sunday’s rate of EGP 7.40. The dollar traded at EGP 7.42 on the black market on Thursday.

The pound has been under pressure during three years of political turmoil. Egypt’s foreign currency reserves stood at about $17.3bn in February, down from $36bn before the uprising that led to the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak’s in 2011.

The central bank introduced dollar currency sales more than a year ago. In January, it held a $1.5bn exceptional auction, its largest, to restock the market with dollars and curb unofficial currency trading.