At its ninth foreign currency auction on Sunday, Egypt’s central bank offered to sell $75 million to banks, with a maximum of $11 million per bank.

Reuters reported that the auctions were part of a shift in currency policy announced in late December and designed to save the country’s foreign reserves, which had fallen to a critical level.

The bank accepted bids worth $74.8 million with a cut-off price for dollars of 6.5299 Egyptian pounds. The Egyptian pound has weakened by about 5 percent on the interbank market to 6.57 to the dollar over the last two weeks.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hesham Qandil said the government was seeking to reach an average growth rate of 7 percent by 2022.

Speaking at the opening session of the annual conference of the US Chamber of Commerce in the Middle East and North Africa on Sunday, Qandil said the government’s short-term plan between 2012 and 2014, included an ambitious economic program that aimed to strike a balance between social justice and economic growth.

The short term plan aimed to achieve sustainable development and enable growth rates to reach 7 percent by 2022. This was in addition to creating at least 800.000 jobs by the end of the current fiscal year to reduce unemployment rate.

One of the primary concerns of Qandil’s government on the economic level is to improve the investment climate and to develop relevant laws.

Qandil said that the government pays special attention to the development of the financial sector, citing a comprehensive plan that includes unspecified new tools and mechanisms. The plan also envisions new projects in the Suez Canal area, New Valley and Upper Egypt.