What:
Egypt’s net foreign asset (NFA) deficit contracted by USD 586 million in April, marking the third consecutive month of decline, according to data by the Central Bank of Egypt.
Driving the drop:
Inflows from the USD 820 million first tranche of the International Monetary Fund’s USD 8 billion loan , helped narrow the deficit to EGP 170 billion (USD 3.68 billion) from USD 4.2 billion in March.
On the Banking front:
The CBE’s foreign assets rose by USD 1.02 billion while foreign liabilities fell by USD 393 billion. Meanwhile, commercial banks’ foreign assets climbed by USD 606 million in April and their liabilities also lep USD 653 million, according to numbers crunched by Reuters.
Remember:
The USD 24 billion Ras El Hekma deal coupled with remittances inflow and portfolio investments helped shrink the NFA deficit by USD 17.8 billion in March and USD 7.04 billion in February, the newswire notes.
