CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s net foreign assets climbed by $1.48 billion in February, their second increase this year after having fallen in each of the last three months of last year, central bank data showed.
Net foreign assets climbed to the equivalent of $10.18 billion from $8.70 billion at the end of January, according to Reuters calculations based on official central bank currency exchange rates.
The increase appeared related to an increase in Egyptian treasury bill purchases by foreign investors, one banker said.
Foreign assets were boosted in January following the sale of $2 billion in international bonds on January 29 in Egypt’s first dollar-denominated international bond sale in four years.
They are expected to rise again in March following the approval by the International Monetary Fund of its fourth review of an $8 billion financial support package signed in March 2024. Last month’s approval unlocked $1.2 billion in addition to making another $1.3 billion available under the IMF’s resilience and sustainability facility.
Egypt had been using foreign assets, which include those assets at both the central bank and commercial banks, to help to prop up its currency since as long ago as September 2021. Net foreign assets turned negative in February 2022 and only returned to positive territory in May last year.
Foreign assets increased in February at both the central bank and commercial banks, while foreign liabilities rose at the central bank but fell at commercial banks.
(Reporting by Patrick Werr; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
