The Central Bank of Egypt said that the foreign-exchange reservesincreased to $26.686bn in May 2023, compared to $26.173bn in April, an increase of $513m.
The Central Bank revealed Tuesday that its international reserves rose to $34.660bn in May, compared to $34.551bn in April, an increase of $109m.
According to the Central Bank, the rise in reserves was limited due to the decline in the value of gold listed in it to $7.949bn in May, compared to $8.031bn in April, a decrease of $82m, and the balance of special drawing rights decreased by about $322m to reach $27m compared to $349m.
The currencies that make up Egypt’s foreign-exchange reservesinclude the US dollar, the euro, the pound sterling, the Japanese yen, and the Chinese yuan, a percentage of which Egypt’s holdings are distributed based on the exchange rates of those currencies and the extent of their stability in international markets, and it changes according to a plan developed by officials of the Central Bank of Egypt.
The Russian-Ukrainian war caused a record rise in the prices of commodities, grains and oil globally, which raised Egypt’s import bill, which made the Central Bank of Egypt resort to using reserves to cover these increases.
The International Monetary Fund had expected that the total international foreign exchange reserves with the Central Bank of Egypt would rise to about $80bn within five fiscal years.
Fund documents showed that Egypt’s foreign reserves are expected to rise in June 2023 to $37.1bn, then to $47.2bn in June 2024, to $51.4bn in June 2025, then to $63.9bn in June 2026, to rise to $77.8bn in June 2027, then to $79.9bn in June 2028.
