Egypt's foreign reserves rise to $20.08bn

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said Tuesday that the country's foreign currency reserves were up by 520 million dollars at the end of June, reaching 20.08 billion from 19.5 billion at the end of May.

The figures reflect the CBE's successful policy in rationalizing cashing of foreign currencies, particularly where funding imports of non-basic commodities is concerned, an official source told MENA.

The source also said that the government issued Eurobonds worth 1.5 billion dollars in June, which contributed to boosting the CBE's dollar reserves.

He also touched upon an improvement in some economic indexes related to tourism and investment, noting that this too has helped increase foreign reserves.

Earlier today, CBE governor Hesham Ramez said the bank had recently paid 670 million dollars to Paris Club creditors.

Egypt owed about 13.3 billion dollars — 29 percent of its total external debt — to Paris Club countries by the close of 2013, according to Central Bank data.

The total external debt stood at 46.06 billion dollars in June 2014, up from 34.9 billion in June 2011.