C.bank Holds 2nd Meeting With Exchange Bureaus

Egypt's central bank held a second meeting with foreign exchange bureaus in an attempt to keep black market rates under control as Egypt's currency crisis worsens and the rate of the dollar surges against the pound on the parallel market.

Egypt, which relies heavily on imports, has been facing a shortage of foreign currency since a 2011 uprising drove away tourists and investors, two major sources of hard currency.

The central bank has been resisting a devaluation, keeping the pound artificially strong at 7.7301 against the dollar while on the black market it jumped above 9.8 pounds per dollar this week.

Officially the central bank allows exchange bureaus to sell dollars at up to 15 piasters either side of its set price, but the bureaus have been known to demand more for the greenback when it is in short supply.

"Yes, there was a meeting with the central bank," said Mohamed El-Abyad, head of Egypt's Foreign Exchange Association.