The gap between the official and unofficial FX rates was at its widest ever on Saturday as the EGP hit a record low of EGP 12.30 to USD 1 after CBE governor Tarek Amer once more raised the specter of devaluation last Wednesday, Al Mal reports. Reuters reported on Thursday that the greenbacks were changing hands at EGP 12.05 per USD 1, more than 35% above the official CBE rate of EGP 8.78. “There has been an increase in [USD] demand over the past two days and people are afraid to sell for fear of the pound weakening further so supply is lower," one trader said.

Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce chief Ahmed El-Wakeel blames Amer’s “frequent” and “ambiguous” public statements on the exchange rate over the past month for the state of confusion in the parallel market. He tells Al Mal that Amer’s hints and backtracking on the devaluation led many people to change their savings to USD instead of EGP, creating more demand on the USD from producers and importers.