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Egypt's foreign reserves are expected to reach USD 16.423 billion at the end of November, a central bank official said.
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has received loans worth USD 800 million from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Arab Monetary Fund, a central bank official said.
"The central bank obtained a loan of USD 600 million from Afreximbank, while the remaining USD 200 million was provided by the Arab Monetary Fund in November," the official, who declined to be named, told Zawya last Tuesday.
The loan from Afreximbank, which carries an interest rate of 2.1%, is part of a proposed USD 1 billion facility to help Egypt improve foreign currency liquidity, the official said, adding that a portion of the loan was used to settle payables to foreign investors.
The CBE has announced that it had paid all foreign portfolio investors' outstanding orders totaling USD 547.2 million for investors that opted not to use the central bank's repatriation mechanism.
"The CBE is expected to announce the net foreign reserves for November, which witnessed a slight increase to reach USD 16.423 billion compared with USD 16.415 billion in October - a difference of USD 8 million," the official said.
Egypt's foreign reserves are used to settle financial commitments abroad and import requirements, as well as to control liquidity in the stock exchange.
© Zawya 2015
