Egypt floated the country's pound Thursday as part of a raft of reforms, after a dollar crunch and exorbitant black market trade threatened to grind some imports to a halt. The government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is rolling out an austerity programme and is seeking billions in support from abroad in order to meet conditions for a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. Thursday's decision by the Egyptian Central Bank came as a surprise, after officials had said they would only consider floating it once foreign reserves reached $25 billion, up from September's $19.6 billion.
