Egypt’s foreign reserves reach $44.11B by end of March

CAIRO – 3 April 2019: Egypt’s foreign reserves surged to $44.112 billion by the end of March 2019, compared to $44.06 billion by the end of February 2019, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

In February, Egypt issued international bonds worth $4 billion in three categories that were five times oversubscribed. The dollar-denominated bonds came with maturities of five, 10 and 30 years in a sale and will be offered at high revenues, as the subscriptions exceeded $21.5 billion.

Egypt issues $4B int'l bonds in 3 categories

CAIRO - 20 February 2019: Egypt issued international bonds worth $4 billion in three categories that was five times oversubscribed, the Ministry of Finance announced. The dollar-denominated bonds come with maturities of five, 10 and 30 years in a sale and will be offered at high revenues, as the subscriptions exceeded $21.5 billion.

Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it announced earlier Wednesday that Egypt will return to the international bond market before the end of the current fiscal year 2018/2019 to issue bonds in a currency other than the dollar.

Moreover, Egypt received its fifth tranche of a $12 billion International Monetary Fund IMF loan, raising its total endorsement to around $10 billion, after the approval of the executive board of IMF to give Egypt the fifth installment of its $12 billion loan ($2 billion).

The current average of foreign reserves covers about eight months of Egypt's commodity imports, which is higher than the global average of about three months of commodity imports.

Foreign currencies in Egypt’s foreign reserves include the U.S. dollar, euro, Australian dollar, Japanese yen and Chinese yuan.

The main function of the foreign exchange reserve, including its gold and various international currencies, is to provide commodities, repay the installments on interest rates of external debt, and to cope with economic crises.

Egypt embarked on a bold economic reform program that included the introduction of taxes, such as the value-added tax (VAT), and cutting energy subsidies, with the aim of trimming the budget deficit.

The country floated its currency in November 2016 before it clinched a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF Executive Board approved in November 2016 a three-year extended fund facility (EFT) loan to Egypt worth $12 billion to support its economic reform program.