Egypt has seen its local currency strengthened against the US dollar in the past few days, as a result of the $5 billion deposit from the oil-rich Arab Gulf States in the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The Egyptian pound is at an official average of 6.95 to the dollar, according to the CBE website, as American currency has dropped by 0.7 percent after averaging LE7 in mid-June.

The currency rose after the CBE’s governor Hisham Ramez told Ahram Arabic news website last week that Egypt’s net international reserves (NIR) had risen to reach more than $20 billion due to the recent aid from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.

The deposit at the CBE is part of $12 billion in aid that has been pledged by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and UAE after the ouster of the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the military.

Al-Ahram also reported on Thursday that the American dollar has fallen back to the black market record of LE7.10, compared to LE8 in April.

Egypt's foreign reserves, which stood at some $36 billion in January 2011, have fallen to $14.9 billion over two years of political turmoil, and the Egyptian pound has lost 22 percent of its value against the dollar.

CBE has continued its foreign exchange auctions since the end of December 2012 to help stave off a currency crisis and thwart a run on the pound.

https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/77392.aspx