The Central Bank of Egypt sold USD 119.9 mn at its regular auction yesterday, keeping the FX rate unchanged at EGP 8.78 per USD 1. Amwal Al Ghad says the funds were used to clear the pharma import backlog. On the parallel market, Reuters says greenbacks were selling for EGP 10.90 per USD 1, Al-Borsa says the EGP was stable at 10.75, and Al Ahram reports the rate to be 10.60. (Dare we say there may be a certain amount of, uhm, “shaping of public opinion” when Ahram starts tracking the parallel market rate, as has been the case of late?)

The CBE has reportedly injected USD 15.694 bn into banks between November and April through both regular weekly USD auctions and exceptional sales, according to a statement from the presidency on Tuesday, Reuters reports. Banks provided USD 33.7 bn in FX to meet the demands of importers during the same period, according to the statement, which followed a meeting between President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and CBE Governor Tarek Amer and is front-page news in the state press. “Since lifting restrictions on foreign currency deposits and transfers earlier this year, flows of foreign currency into domestic banks have increased ten-fold,” Amer said. He told El Sisi that FX reserves grew over USD 1 bn over the past month thanks to these policies, Al Mal reports.

Amer also reportedly briefed the president on an agreement with the Finance Ministry to tap international debt markets, but didn’t provide details on the timing or size of the planned issuance, according to Bloomberg. “The government sold Eurobonds for the first time since 2010 in June last year, but a second intended for the fourth quarter of 2015 was delayed due to rising borrowing costs. Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said in February that the government would sell bonds in the second quarter of this year,” Bloomberg’s Ahmed Feteha notes.