Egypt’s banks have bought $1.4 billion since the country’s pound currency was floated earlier this month, Central Bank Governor Tarek Amer said on Saturday to Al Mal, a local financial newspaper.
The central bank abandoned its currency peg of 8.8 pounds to the U.S. dollar this month in a dramatic devaluation welcomed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The pound traded at just over 16 to the dollar on Friday.
Amer said banks bought $1.4 billion from individuals exchanging their foreign currency for Egyptian pounds during the first six days in which banks began operating on the newly liberalised exchange rate.