The Central Bank of Egypt revealed that the volume of foreign exchange reserves increased by $470 million during December, to reach $34 billion, compared to $33.53 billion at the end of November.
According to the Central Bank, foreign exchange reserves witnessed an increase for the fourth month in a row, achieving an increase of more than $860 million during the last four months. This is despite the payment of about $2.5 billion in payments related to the country's external indebtedness, at $1.5 billion in November, and $1 billion in December.
At the end of December, the foreign exchange reserve recorded its highest level since May 2022, covering about 5.4 months of Egypt's foreign imports, which exceeds the measures of reserve adequacy according to international standards.
Fitch Ratings revealed that the regulatory capital ratios of Egyptian banks can withstand further depreciation of the pound against the dollar, as they are supported by healthy internal capital generation. According to the agency, the large private sector banks are in a better position to withstand the depreciation of the currency than the two largest banks in the public sector, namely the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr, given the high regulatory capital buffer.
Source (Al Khaleej Emirati Newspaper, Edited)
