The total allocation ratio of the US dollar tender put forward by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on Tuesday reached 22.99%.

The CBE sold $118.7m US dollars at a fixed price of EGP 8.78. Banks have been directed to sell the US currency to their customers at a price of EGP 8.88.

The CBE did not direct banks to provide US dollars to finance the import of certain commodities, as was the case in the previous auction, according to Osama El-Menilawy, an assistant general manager to the financial sector at a private bank operating in Egypt.

Last week, the CBE directed banks to allocate foreign currency to importers for the import of medicine, vaccines, and baby formula.

The CBE also directed banks to allocate their US dollars to import food commodities, in preparation for the holy month of Ramadan.

The US dollar price at banks remains unchanged at EGP 8.88 for sale, while on the informal market, the depreciation of the value of the Egyptian pound against the US dollar has held at just under EGP 11.