CBE: International reserves up by $258M with foreign currency reserves at $36.8B

Cairo – July 7, 2024: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) revealed on Sunday that Egypt’s net international reserves (NIRs) rose to around $46.383 billion at the end of June, an increase of $258 million compared to May’s $46.126 billion.

According to its latest report, foreign currency reserves saw a slight uptick in June, climbing to $36.8 billion from May’s $36.5 billion. Gold reserves dipped last month to $9.4 billion, down from $9.5 billion the month before.

Egypt’s slow but steady NIRs growth, despite paying off large sums of outstanding debt, reflects a positive trend in the economy’s recovery.

External debt fell by 4.4 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, reaching around $160.6 billion by the end of March

Net foreign assets deficit (NFAs) in the banking sector recently surged to a surplus of $14.3 billion from a negative $29 billion, its first surplus in almost 2 years.

The country’s NFAs have been in the red since February 2022, after the Russian/Ukraine war triggered $20 billion worth of capital outflows as foreign investors pulled out amid concerns of local and global economic stability.

Since February this year, Egypt has secured over $58 billion in external financing commitments from international financial institutions and development partners, helping the country out of a significant 2-year FX shortage.

Agreements include the expansion of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) from the IMF to $8 billion, the World Bank’s pledge of 6 billion, another $8 billion from the European Union, and, of course, the $35 billion deal for the development rights to Ras El Hekma with the UAE.

The European Union agreed to provide €1 billion ($1.07 billion), part of its €7.4 billion ($8 billion) pledge, in short-term financial aid during the Egypt-EU Investment Conference in June to help stabilize the country's economy.