CAIRO (AP) — The deputy governor of Egypt's Central Bank is voicing optimism about the economy, saying the country's currency is trading in a tight range.

Hisham Ramez says that while the Egyptian pound had dropped to around 5.91 to the dollar, compared to around 5.85 to the dollar last week, the market was "well balanced."

He says "there is nothing to worry about."

Ramez also said the last Treasury bill auction went well, even though only 3 billion Egyptian pounds ($508 million) in T–bills were sold, compared to 4.5 billion Egyptian pounds offered. He attributed the lower sales to interest rates higher than what the Finance Ministry was willing to accept.

Bids for yields on the 266–day T–bills were as high as 13.95 percent. The average yield was 12.473 percent.