Egypt foreign reserves up $100m in February 

Egypt’s foreign reserves increased by about $100 million in February, the country’s central bank announced yesterday.

“Egypt’s cash foreign reserves reached $40.2 billion in February, compared to $40.1 in January,” the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a statement.

The CBE added that the country’s foreign reserves had been declining since March 2020 “from a high level of more than $45 billion,” noting that the reduction was the result of the “economic repercussions of coronavirus pandemic.”

Egyptian foreign monetary reserves consist of deposits from a number of Gulf countries and loans from international funding institutions including the IMG. The North African state is due to repaying about $21 billion in debts this year, according to official data.

The country’s economy has been hit by global coronavirus lockdowns and the almost halt in tourism, a major income stream for the country. A total of 3.5 million tourists visited Egypt in 2020 compared to 13.1 million in 2019, according to the Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled Al-Anany.

READ: Anger in Egypt as government demands citizens register homes or lose electricity