The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced on March 4 that the net foreign reserves surged to USD 44.060 bn at the end of February, up from USD 42.616 bn a month earlier, Invest-Gate reports.

Egypt’s foreign currency reserves stood at USD 42.524 bn at the end of February last year, according to the CBE data.

Last December, the country’s foreign reserves dropped for the first time since the EGP floatation by nearly USD 2 mn to hit about USD 42.551 bn, compared to roughly USD 44.513 bn by the end of November 2018.

Foreign reserves have been leaping since Egypt secured a USD 12 bn three-year International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program in November 2016, as part of the efforts to revive its ailing economy – recording USD 37 bn in 2017 and USD 24.3 bn in the previous year.

On February 2, Egypt received the fifth installment of IMF’s loan, drawing about USD 2 bn worth of fund and bringing the country’s total disbursements to USD 10 bn, allocated to reducing the budget deficit and financing gap, the CBE said in an earlier statement.