Egypt’s net international reserves rose to $46.597 billion at the end of August 2024 from $46.49 billion by the end of July, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). In June, Egypt’s net international reserves rose to $46.3 billion from $46.126 billion in May, $41 billion in April, and $40.4 billion in March.
Funding and investments boost growth
The surge is mainly due to an increase in investments across the country and international financial support packages. This included the $35 billion Ras El-Hekma deal with the UAE that Egypt signed in February, marking the largest FDI deal in the country’s history. Following that deal earlier in the year, Egypt’s net international reserves rose $11.2 billion over the last five months.
In addition, Egypt secured over $57 billion in financial packages from international financial institutions and development partners.
In July, Egypt received the third tranche of the $8 billion loan program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), following the completion of the third review.
At the Egypt-EU investment conference, the two sides agreed on a 1 billion euro deal out of the 7.4 billion euros committed to Egypt by the European Union.
Read: Rising bank credit demand in the UAE amid positive economic outlook, says Central Bank
Egypt’s outlook positive
A recent IMF report said that Egypt’s gross and net international reserves now surpass its obligations. In addition, it forecasted an additional increase in gross international reserves to $66.5 billion by fiscal year 2028-2029, up from $47.2 billion in fiscal year 2024-25.
Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings forecasted a rise in international reserves to $49.7 billion this year and projected an increase to $53.3 billion by 2025-2026. Moreover, it upgraded Egypt’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating from stable to positive. Fitch Ratings also expected a decline in the country’s current account deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2025-2026, citing greater exchange rate stability. In addition, the agency projects inflation to fall to 12.3 percent in June 2025.
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