Net international foreign reserves fell to $18.7bn at the end of September, according to a 3 October statement by the Central Bank of Egypt, representing a $200m drop from $18.9bn reported at the end of August. In August, net reserves had climbed significantly due to the foreign aid received from Gulf countries. On 21 September, Central Bank governor Hisham Ramez told Al-Borsa newspaper that the $2bn deposit made by Qatar was stable, only to announce on 1 October that $1bn of this would be returned within the next two months while the remaining $1bn would be returned in November and December. On Thursday evening, Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi appointed a nine-member board of trustees for the 306306 Support Egypt Fund that was officially announced by the Central Bank on 7 July. These nine trustees include: former governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Farouk El-Okda, former Minister of Environment Nadia Makram Ebeid, business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, owner of the CBC satellite channel Mohamed Al-Amin, economics professor Galal Amin, law professor Hani Sari-El Din, talk show host Khairy Ramadan, poet Ahmed Fouad Negm and a representative from the Ministry of Defence. The bank account has collected more than EGP 700m according to Minister of Planning Ashraf El-Araby.
