(AFP Photo)
Egypt’s international foreign reserves jumped to $20.5bn at the end of April 2015, compared to $15.29bn the preceding month.
The increase is attributed to the recent arrival of $6bn in Gulf deposits from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE.
Since December 2011, foreign reserves kept fluctuating but did not surpass the $20bn figure.
Meanwhile in January 2011, before the uprising that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s reserves totalled $ 35.01bn.
In April, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced that Egypt’s total external debt decreased to $40.2bn at the end of February, compared to $50bn last year.
CBE Governor Hisham Ramez added that the external debt will be increased after the new deposits, and he expected the increase of debt services coverage ratio.
“The foreign exchange reserves will exceed $20bn after the recent Arab deposits,” Ramez said earlier.“The CBE will pay the final instalment of Qatari deposits, which amounted to $1bn during the month of October.”
Ramez had previously said the CBE will pay $681m in June to the Paris Club, as part of its foreign obligations, a payment made by the bank every six months.
In 2014, Egypt twice repaid $681m to the Paris Club, where the same figure was also paid to them by the beginning of 2015.
Meanwhile, Egypt repaid $3bn to Qatar based on a formal request by Doha for repaying an amount worth $7.5bn in grants and deposits. This figure was provided to Egypt during the year Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi was in power.
The Egyptian government is expecting $6bn-$8bn in direct foreign investments by the end of the fiscal year, according to Minister of Investment Ashraf Salman.
Additionally Egypt expects its economy to grow between 4.2%- 4.5% in the second half of the current fiscal year, Salman said.
