Egypt was still the focus of financial as well as political turmoil on Monday as its banks reopened for business. Its stock exchange, however, remained closed, and unease showed in the sharp decrease of its pound, which hit a 6-year low as investors looked to dump their holdings of the troubled nation's currency.
Reuters reported that, despite the fall in the price of the pound, the costs of insuring Egypt's debt, as well as that of other Middle Eastern nations, fell once the banks reopened. Still murky, however, is the viability of Egypt's intent to sell more than 15 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.53 billion) of short-term debt later Monday. The auction, originally scheduled for last week, had to be canceled.
State banks were reportedly selling dollars to shore up the country's currency, although no action had yet been taken by the nation's central bank. It is also expected that local banks would largely be the takers on the debt auction, since the country's unrest is unnerving potential foreign investors.
