Central Bank reports fall in Egypt’s foreign reserves

The Central Bank of Egypt said on Wednesday that the state’s net foreign reserves fell by $1.761 billion to $16.334 billion at the end of September. Egypt’s foreign reserves declined in August by nearly $500 million, falling to $18 billion compared with $18.5 billion in the previous month.

Egypt paid out $1.25 billion in September, the value of foreign commitments in the form of bonds it offered five years ago on the global markets.

The fall has occurred despite Egypt getting deposits amounting to $6 billion from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in April as part of an aid package pledged during the Sharm El-Sheikh economic conference in March. Foreign reserves in Egypt totalled $36 billion before the January 2011 revolution.

The Central Bank uses the foreign reserves to provide basic goods and pay external debt.