Foreign Reserves Surge By US$ 300 Mln In May

Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said foreign reserves rose by US$302 million in May, their second successive monthly increase after having fallen every month since the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in early 2011.

Foreign reserves climbed to US$15.52 billion at the end of May from US$15.21 billion at the end of April, CBE said.

Reserves had declined by more than half since Egypt’s political turmoil scared away tourists and investors, two of Egypt’s main sources of foreign currency.

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Fayza Aboul Naga earlier expected foreign reserves to increase by July as economic recovery began because of the procedures that have been recently taken by the government by rationing imports and expenditures as well as increasing exports. In addition, the government has launched “Beet Al Watan” Project (The Country’s House) and dollar certificates of deposit for Egyptians living abroad.

The following table shows the value of Egypt’s net foreign reserves:

Month

Value in billion US$

December 2010

36.005

January 2011

35.007

February 2011

33.321

March 2011

30.106

April 2011

28.024

May 2011

27.228

June 2011

26.564

July 2011

25.706

August 2011

25.008

September 2011

24.009

October 2011

22.071

November 2011

20.1

December 2011

18.119

January 2012

16.3

February 2012

15.7

March 2012

15.1

April 2012

15.2

May 2012

15.5

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