By: Heba El-Kordy

Cairo – Mubasher: Following a growth trend in Egypt’s international reserves which last for 25 months, the country’s reserves declined 4.4% month-on-month, or by $1.9 billion, in December.

This fall was the result of the repayment of US dollar-denominated treasury bills worth $1.36 billion at a 4.6% interest last month, in addition to a decline in foreign investments in Egypt’s T-bills, analysts and macroeconomists told Mubasher.

Foreign investments in Egypt’s T-bills went down to $11.7 billion in October, its seventh successive monthly fall, compared to $13.1 billion a month earlier, according to data compiled by Mubasher.

However, Egypt’s international reserves are expected to resume their growth to around $45 billion by the end of the current fiscal year, given the receipt of a tranche from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) loan and the international bond issues planned for the coming period, analyst at Sigma Capital Eman Negm noted.

Translated by: Muhammad Khalid