The Egyptian pound strengthened slightly against the dollar at a central bank sale on Monday and

remained stable on the black market a day after former army chief Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was sworn in as

the country's new president.

Black market traders have cited hopes of new investment and aid from Gulf countries as a reason why

demand for hard currency has weakened.

Narrowing the gap between official and unofficial rates, the pound has strengthened markedly in

the black market since Sisi was elected on May 29. It had traded for around 7.50 to the dollar before his

election victory.

The central bank said it sold $37.6 million at a cut-off price of 7.1402 pounds, inching up from 7.1403 at

its last sale on Thursday. It had offered $40 million.

Egypt's central bank governor Hisham Ramez was quoted by state media on Saturday as saying that

the bank's forex policies were succeeding in restoring stability to the currency market and would lead to

the elimination of the black market.

Forex traders and economists have described the central bank's decision to allow the pound to gradually

weaken since March as a managed depreciation. The central bank has not said why it has been letting

the currency weaken.

The rates at which banks are allowed to trade dollars are determined by the results of the central bank sales, giving the bank effective control over official exchange rates.

May's dollar reserves compared with a cushion of over $35 billion in reserves before the 2011 uprising

that swept veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak from power and started three years of political turmoil that

unnerved tourists and investors, two main sources of dollar inflows.