Egypt's central bank said it would offer $50 million to banks at a foreign currency auction on Sunday, the same amount offered at its previous auction this week.

The Egyptian pound has weakened by about 6.8 per cent on the interbank market since the first auction at the end of December and is now trading at 6.6354 to the US dollar. Sunday's sale will be the 14th auction.

The auctions are a bid to preserve Egypt's foreign reserves, which have fallen to a critical level and now hover around $15 billion, covering roughly three months imports. The bank holds three foreign currency auctions a week.-Reuters