CAIRO: Official data released on Thursday is giving a positive sign of recovery for the Egyptian economy, which was on the threshold of a full collapse, as tranquility is coming back to the Egyptian street after a streak of violence. On Thursday, official figures from the state statistics agency has shown a better indicator of inflation in Egypt, as urban consumer inflation was 8.79 percent in the 12 months to April, slowing from 9 percent in March. The urban consumer price index for April was 123.8 versus 113.8 a year earlier, the agency said. Revenue from Egypt's Suez Canal in April rose to $434.6 million from March's $428 million, a vital source of foreign currency in Egypt, along with tourism, oil and gas exports and remittances from Egyptians living abroad. The country's foreign debt dropped by $2 billion in April to $33 billion against $35 billion in the same month last year, with foreign currency reserves standing at $15 billion last year, rising for the first time since 2010. Another optimistic sign also was reported on Thursday as Saudi Arabia has transferred $1 billion to Egypt's central bank as an eight-year deposit, which will boost the Egyptian treasury in the coming few months to overcome a decreasing foreign currencies. Egypt, which is also negotiating a $3.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, has been seeking funds from international donors to help it plug a balance of payments deficits aggravated by the political and economic turmoil of the last 15 months. Many economists believe the political and economic turmoil since last year's uprising, which has eaten into revenue and increased demands for higher wages, could end up pushing the Egyptian economy to fall, but they confirm good indicators which may beat their estimates. “Good signs of recovery are still suspended, until we have an elected president, I think things will get better, as much as we go in this point,” Ahmed Said, a macro–economic expert told Bikyamasr.com. “It is great matters what we heard about sign of recovery, but lots of steps must be taken quickly if we want to go further,” Ali Mansour, a business expert told Bikyamasr.com. Most of experts polled by Bikyamasr.com urged the current government to handle urgent issues to make the Egyptian citizen feel this improvements.
