The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on Thursday free-floated the Egyptian pound versus the US dollar according to supply and demand mechanism.

In a statement, Rami Gaballah Wakil, assistant deputy governor of the bank, said the bank decided to cut down the value of the Egyptian pound by 48 percent to stand at EGP 13 against the US dollar in the official market with a 10 percent margin of fluctuation.

The CBE decision means that the Egyptian pound value will be primarily decided by the forces of supply and demand.

The bank will hold an exceptional FX acution later in the day.

The bank also decided to increase interest rate on loans and deposits by 300 bps.