Cairo - Mubasher: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced Monday, that the country’s net international reserves went up to $28.5 billion by the end of March 2017, according to an official statement.

Last month, Egypt had received $1 billion as the second tranche of the World Bank loan, plus another $500 million from the African Development Bank (AFDB).

The country’s foreign exchange reserves reached $26.541 billion by the end of February, according to data by the CBE.

On 3 November 2016, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided to float the Egyptian pound, which means that exchange rates will be decided according to the market's supply and demand. It also increased interest rates by 300 basis points.

Egypt’s foreign reserves amounted to around $36 billion in January 2011. They had since declined due to the drop in foreign exchange resources such as foreign investments and tourism.

The Egyptian minister of finance, Amr El-Garhy, told Mubasher in January that his ministry is considering using all the funds collected from the sale of international bonds to support the country’s foreign exchange reserves instead of directing them to the general budget deficit.