Egypt’s international reserves climb for 12th month in a row, reaches $34.9B in August

Egypt’s international reserves increased to $34.92 billion during August 2023, up from $34.87 billion recorded in July, revealed official data by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). The new data signals the twelfth consecutive month in which reserves have recorded increases.

On a year-on-year basis, CBE numbers indicate a climb of 5.39% in August compared to $33.14 billion during the same month in 2022.

The central bank’s foreign reserves include a variety of currencies such as the U.S. dollar, Euro, Australian dollar, Japanese yen, and Chinese yuan.

Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait stated earlier this week that Egypt is seeking to receive new external financing between $1.5-2 billion. Maait added that approximately $1 billion is expected to come through Samurai and Panda bond offerings by the end of the year.

Last week, the CBE revealed new data indicating that Egypt’s net foreign asset (NFAs) deficit contracted by LE 24.92 billion ($807.95 million), close to 3 percent, on a monthly basis to record LE 812.41 billion ($26.34 billion) in July 2023.

Egypt’s total foreign assets rose to LE 1.47 billion in July 2023 from LE 1.43 billion in June, while the country’s total assets grew by 50 percent year-on-year to hit LE 4.48 trillion in July from LE 2.98 trillion in June 2022.

Net foreign asset deficit is the net total value of foreign assets owned by the country's banks minus their foreign liabilities.