Economics
Egypt Pound Hits Record Low as Bets Mount For Second Devaluation
- Gap between official and unofficial rates at widest on record
- CE says devaluation likely "sooner rather than later"
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The Egyptian pound extended losses in black market trading on speculation that policy makers will weaken the official exchange rate to end the country’s shortage of foreign currency.
The pound slumped to 11.75 a dollar, according to the average quote of four money changers in Cairo surveyed by Bloomberg on Tuesday. That compares with 11.54 a week earlier and represents a 32 percent premium to buy dollars over the official exchange rate, the widest gap since Bloomberg started tracking the data in 2013.