The Egyptian pound plunged to a record against the US dollar on Wednesday, after the International Monetary Fund said authorities were showing commitment to a flexible exchange rate.
(Bloomberg) —
The Egyptian pound plunged to a record against the US dollar on Wednesday, after the International Monetary Fund said authorities were showing commitment to a flexible exchange rate.
The currency was trading 7.3% weaker at 29.8569 per dollar as of 11:46 a.m. in Cairo. Egypt has already devalued the currency three times in the past year.
The IMF on Tuesday laid out the details of a $3 billion rescue package to Egypt. It said the North African country is moving toward a flexible foreign-exchange policy and any intervention by the central bank will be “guided” by the need to smooth out market volatility.
The fund warned, however, that the durability of Egypt’s policy shift “remains to be proven and the central bank may face political and social pressure to reverse course.”
(Updates pound starting in first paragraph. An earlier version of this story corrected day of IMF report in third paragraph.)
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