![People walk past the Egyptian Central Bank in downtown Cairo on 3 November 2016. [KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/d2.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-620795616.jpg?fit=920%2C613&ssl=1)
Egypt’s foreign reserves increased by about $100 million in February, the country’s central bank announced yesterday.
“Egypt’s cash foreign reserves reached $40.2 billion in February, compared to $40.1 in January,” the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a statement.
The CBE added that the country’s foreign reserves had been declining since March 2020 “from a high level of more than $45 billion,” noting that the reduction was the result of the “economic repercussions of coronavirus pandemic.”
Egyptian foreign monetary reserves consist of deposits from a number of Gulf countries and loans from international funding institutions including the IMG. The North African state is due to repaying about $21 billion in debts this year, according to official data.
The country’s economy has been hit by global coronavirus lockdowns and the almost halt in tourism, a major income stream for the country. A total of 3.5 million tourists visited Egypt in 2020 compared to 13.1 million in 2019, according to the Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled Al-Anany.
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