The Central Bank of Egypt reported a $276 million depletion in its foreign currency reserves this past January, reaching $13.8 million, reported Al-Raya. The loss was attributed to the injection of large amounts of foreign currency into circulation in a bid to stabilize the local pound’s exchange rate.
International credit rating agency Fitch IBCA gave the Egyptian economy a negative assessment in January 2002, stating tensions in the economic policy framework as its main concern. Fitch asserted that Egypt's efforts to manage the exchange rate and interest rates would not help its economic recovery, reported Xinhua.
Egypt’s major sources of foreign exchange earnings; labor remittances, Suez Canal revenues, tourism and oil were adversely affected by the global downturn following the September 11 attacks. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
