The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced that the country’s foreign reserves rose by $180 million in June, an increase equal to 0.57 percent of Egypt’s total foreign reserves.
The net foreign currency reserves stood at $31.305 billion in June, according to the CBE website on Wednesday.
Previously, the country’s foreign reserves rose to $31.125 billion at the end of May from $28.641 billion in April — an increase of about $2.5 billion.
The country had roughly $36 billion in reserves before the 2011 uprising ushered in a period of political turmoil, scaring away tourists and foreign investors — key sources of hard currency.
The central bank floated the Egyptian pound last November as part of an economic reform program. The move helped Egypt clinch a $12 billion three-year loan from the International Monetary Fund.
An IMF delegation was in Cairo earlier, in January, to prepare for a review required before disbursing the second installment of the loan, expected to be $1.25 billion.
The first installment of $2.75 billion was disbursed in November 2016.
Egypt sold $4 billion of Eurobonds in three tranches in January, raising twice as much as targeted and at lower yields than initially expected. It was not immediately clear if the rise in reserves was a consequence of the sale.
The government’s applied economic reforms include loosening capital controls, ending energy subsidies, reforming public enterprises and overhauling monetary policy, in a bid to restore economic stability and long-term growth.
