CAIRO: Egypt’s net foreign exchange reserves rose to $31.21 billion in May from $31.19 billion in April, according to a report released by the Central Bank of Egypt.
The upturn ended a six-month decline in reserves, which dropped 11 percent in value starting November 2008 due to the effects of the global financial crisis.
“These are signs of recovery or at least that the crisis started to ease, Tarek El-Ghamrawy, economist at the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES), said, citing the fact that Egypt saw 4.3 percent economic growth in the third quarter, up from 4.1 the quarter before.
Egypt’s economic fundamentals were affected as badly as expected, said El-Ghamrawy, and the obvious effects in some certain sectors, for instance tourism, trade and Suez Canal revenues, are to be considered temporary rather than permanent.
Some forecasts predict that economic indicators for June 2009 will improve over May.
“The stimulus packages injected in the economies of the developed world are among several reasons why the crisis eased, he added.
