National Bank of Egypt (NBE)'s Finance Group Chairman Hussein el Rifai said that the bank will open its doors to clients on Thursday till 9:00 pm for foreign exchange transactions and transfers only.

In statements to MENA, Rifai urged "dollar hoarders" to sell their dollar savings in view of expecting drop in dollar price in the coming days.

The NBE official lauded decisions taken by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) as "effective and successful", adding this step will crack down the black market for US dollars.

The National Bank of Egypt will offer two certificates of deposit (CDs) at a 16% interest rate (three-year maturity) and 20% (18-month maturity), an official source at the bank said.

The new figures were announced after the CBE officially liberalized the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound earlier, the source told MENA.

The two certificates will have monthly and quarterly revenues, respectively, the source added.

According to the NBE website, the exchange rate of the US dollar hit EGP 13.1 for purchase and EGP 13.5 for sale.

Earlier in the day, the Central Bank of Egypt held its largest-ever exceptional auction of $4 billion sold to banks to fulfill the needs of customers.

The auction is the largest in the bank’s history to be held at an open exchange rate according to the needs of each bank after its earlier decision to float the Egyptian pound, bankers told MENA.

In a statement, the CBE said with the aim of achieving monetary stability and reaching a low inflation rate, a number of measures were taken, including shifting from a fixed exchange rate system to a floating exchange rate one.

As per the decision, all banks operating in Egypt will be able to set the exchange rate price of foreign currencies in order to end for good any trading outside the official market, the CBE said.