CAIRO, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's foreign exchange reserves (forex) hit a record high by the end of March, reaching 42.61 billion U.S. dollars, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said Monday.
This marks an increase of 87 million dollars in reserves of February, which amounted to 42.52 billion dollars, the CBE noted in a press statement.
Egypt's forex kept declining from 36 billion dollars in January 2011, just before the uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak, until it reached an alarming level of 13.5 billion in February 2013, a few months before the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
The political instability and relevant security issues led to economic recession and decline of tourism and foreign investments, two major sources for Egypt's foreign currency reserves.
It started to gradually rise under President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who, as the army chief then, led Morsi's ouster in response to mass protests and was supported by billions of dollars from oil-rich Gulf countries that backed the move, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
Improving security conditions, increasing remittances of Egyptian expatriates, in addition to foreign loans and deposits have refilled the CBE with foreign funds.
"Foreign currency rise is a positive indication that reflects the success of the government to run financial problems through well-studied plans," Moustafa Ibrahim, an economic expert and a member of Egyptian Businessmen Association, told Xinhua.
Ibrahim added that the political stability encouraged international banks and financial institutions to provide Egypt with big loans, which have been used in rebuilding the economic infrastructure in the most populous Arab country.
"I believe that the reserves will keep going up especially after the re-election of President Abel-Fattah al-Sisi ... this political stability will increase confidence of lenders and investors in Egypt's investment and reform plans," he noted.
To boost economy, bolster forex and contain dollar shortage, Egypt started in late 2016 a strict three-year economic reform program including austerity measures, fuel and energy subsidy cuts and tax increases, in addition to local currency full floatation, although they led to nationwide price hikes.
Egypt's reform program is encouraged by a 12-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, half of which has already been delivered to the North African country.
