Egypt's central bank has not intervened in the foreign exchange market since early February, the bank's deputy governor said on Thursday, and sharp falls in international reserves are likely to ease off.
The central bank intervened shortly after the market reopened in early February following the ousting of Hosni Mubarak as president, Hisham Ramez told a news briefing on the sidelines of the African Development Bank's annual meeting.
"Since that day, we did not intervene." The Egyptian pound EGP, which operates under a managed float system, has been relatively strong in the aftermath of Egypt's revolution.
International foreign exchange reserves have dropped by $9 billion this year, due to a fall-off particularly in tourism and export revenues, Ramez said.
But reserves fell only $800,000 in May from April, to $27.23 billion.
"The reserves went down...the trend is now moderating," Ramez said.
Ramez declined to comment on monetary policy ahead of the central bank's policy meeting in Cairo later on Thursday.
The central bank is expected to leave rates unchanged, at 9.75 percent for the lending rate and 8.25 percent for the deposit rate.
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