CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak said in remarks published on Wednesday he expected his country s foreign exchange reserves to keep climbing. The Egyptian central bank s foreign reserves grew 33.6 percent in the year to January to $22.13 billion. I want the central bank to have $100 billion, and this hope is not far away and we are on the way towards it, Mubarak told reporters in remarks published in the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper. He did not say why he expected a further rise in reserves. Bigger dollar reserves were increasing our confidence in Egypt s economic capacity to meet the needs of its citizens and cover their demands, Mubarak said. Egypt s foreign exchange reserves have been boosted since 2005 by exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The number of tourists visiting Egypt has also grown to record levels and the government wants to further boost the number. Foreign investors are also buying state-owned assets as part of the government s privatization program. Reuters
Mubarak sees Egypt's forex reserves rising
