CAIRO, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The foreign currency collected by Egyptian banks since floating the pound in last November is up to 52 billion U.S. dollars, official news agency MENA reported on Saturday.
"The remittances of the Egyptian expats, investments and export revenues were the reasons behind the increase of the foreign currency," MENA quoted Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Rami Abul Naga as saying.
Egypt floated its currency in November last year to limit shortage of foreign currency, from less than 8 pounds then to current 17.59 pounds.
It also agreed a three-year, 12 billion dollars IMF loan program in the same month last year that is tied to ambitious economic reforms such as subsidy cuts and tax hikes.
Tareq Amer, governor of the CBE said earlier that the economic reform results in Egypt are "strong and exceeded expectations."
Amer said the results of Egypt's economic reform program are described by international investment experts as "an extraordinary achievement," pointing out the foreign investments in Egyptian increased to 18 billion dollars in September.
He added more international institutions sought to invest 26 billion dollars in international securities issued by Egypt.