CAIRO—Egypt’s central bank sold $1.5 billion to banks in an exceptional auction on Wednesday to help cover importers’ foreign currency refinancing needs, just days after it devalued the local currency.

The central bank is adopting several measures including a more flexible exchange-rate policy as it seeks to ease an acute dollar shortage that is hurting the economy.

The exchange rate of 8.78 Egyptian pounds per dollar at Wednesday’s auction, according to a filing on the bank’s website, was stronger than the price of 8.85 pounds at which it sold dollars in an interbank auction earlier in the week, when it devalued its currency by nearly 13%.

A weaker currency is however likely to push inflation higher, and most analysts now expect Egypt’s monetary policy committee to increase key interest rates at its meeting scheduled for Thursday to limit any rise in domestic prices.

Still, the foreign exchange auction will provide some much needed foreign exchange to importers, many of whom have had to tap the black market previously.