Egypt's Morsi Says He's Not Worried by Currency Fall

CAIRO — The Egyptian pound's fall to a record low does not worry or scare the government and the situation will "balance out within days," President Mohammed Morsi was quoted as saying by state news agency MENA on Monday.

Morsi made the remarks during a meeting with Arab journalists on Sunday evening, MENA said.

Separately, the head of the Egyptian banking federation described a system of foreign exchange auctions introduced by the central bank on Sunday as an "important first step" towards a free float of the pound.

Tarek Amer, who is also chairman of Egypt's largest bank, state-owned National Bank of Egypt, said the new system was a success on its first day and had "significantly reduced" demand for dollars.