CAIRO: According to figures published on the Egyptian central bank's website this week, the country's net foreign reserves fell from $25.01 billion at the end of August to $24.01 billion last month. Reserves came down by around 31 percent since September 2010, when they totaled $35.53 billion. Egypt's economy has been hit hard by the recent political and social turmoil since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in February. Tourism, one of the cash cows of the economy, has dropped off significantly and street protests have demanded an increase in wages. Overall, analysts and the government say the situation is getting better, but they have provided little details as to specifics. Economic growth for Egypt, which had been over five percent for successive recent years, is expected to crawl forward and a direct result of this is the reduction in foreign reserves as the government is forced to use these reserves to attempt to put the country back on track. BM
