Egypt’s foreign reserves rose $7 million in November

Egypt’s foreign currency reserves inched higher by US$7 billion to record US$16.423 billion dollars at the end of November from US$16.415 billion the previous month, the central bank announced Thursday.

The statistics were released a day after Egypt’s new central bank governor Tarek Amer met President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and told him that foreign reserves were ‘reassuring’, ‘stable’ and would improve in the coming period.

Egypt’s foreign reserves stood at about $36 billion before the 2011 revolt but have dwindled since the uprising scared off tourists and foreign investors, which represent key sources of foreign exchange.

Bankers had been watching out for a dip in reserves after the central bank pumped additional dollar liquidity into the banking sector in recent weeks to ease a forex crisis.

The values of Egypt’s foreign reserves held by the Central Bank of Egypt during 2015: