CAIRO: Egypt's Central Bank has released on Sunday the foreign reserve rates for April 2012, for the first time since December of 2010, a good sign of recovery for Egyptian economy though lots of obstacles still hinder it from a full recovery. Foreign reserves edged up to $15.21 billion at the end of April from $15.12 billion at the end of March, the bank said. The reserves have tumbled by more than half since a popular uprising that toppled Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, and sent the economy into a tailspin. “This is a great sign for our economy – foreign reserves were about to run out, and lots of problem were about to hit Egypt, if this happened,” a business expert told Bikyamasr.com. “I think these good figures trace back to good decisions from our central bank,” Mohammed Hussin, an expert, added. “In the coming few months, figures will get better, after we will have an elected president, that will be a good boost for our economy in the near future,” Mohamed said explaining his point of view about the future of the economy. Egypt was in a quandary due to the decline of foreign reserves especially from the beginning of this year, when it tumbled to its lowest level, causing lots of problems for Egyptian economy that mainly depend on foreign reserves to import its needs. Another expert polled by Bikyamasr.com about the rise of foreign reserves said, “it is not high time to evaluate this matter now, and foreign participation in Egypt's stock market remains small, but a partial recovery in tourism and a tendency for Egyptians to keep bank deposits in local currency are positive signs.” “My personal fears have to do with the fall of the Egyptian pound in the coming few weeks, which would seal a long-delayed $3.2 billion loan from the IMF that will cause a slump in our local currency,” Ahmed Abu Zeid a macro –economic expert explained to Bikyamasr.com
