Egypt’s net international reserves end 2023 with increase of $4.6B, CBE

Cairo – January 4, 2024: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) revealed on Thursday the latest date on the country’s net international reserves (NIR), sharing a $4.6 billion increase during the final month of 2023.

In December 2023, the CBE recorded its NIR at $35.219 billion, compared to $35.173 billion at the end of November.

Egypt continues to report positive inflows to its foreign reserves, with increases in October which closed the month with $35.1 billion, and in September when it reported $34.97 billion.

The country’s foreign reserves consist of a varied basket of foreign currencies such as the U.S. dollar, Euro, Australian dollar, Japanese yen, and Chinese yuan. The NIR is used by the CBE to ensure basic commodities, and pay installments and interests on foreign debts.

As part of its efforts to boost its foreign reserves, Egypt remains in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to begin reviews for its $3 billion loan program after two delayed reviews.

The IMF’s Director of the Middle East and Central Asia department at the IMF, Jihad Azour, recently revealed that the fund and Egypt are resuming negotiations within the coming weeks.

The state has committed to an ambitious strategy to attract a substantial $191 billion in foreign investments to boost the country’s foreign reserves by 2026 as it struggles with a hard currency shortage.

Egypt is looking towards several revenue streams to boost its reserves, including from the Suez Canal Economic Zone which is expected to bring in around $3.9 billion and LE 70 billion in FY2023/2024 from its privatization/IPO program. The program has already brought in $5.6 billion from the complete or partial shares in 14 state-owned companies.