Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Fayed asserted said the first portion of the loan agreed upon with World Bank (WB), estimated at $1bn, has not entered CBE yet. CBE was not able to obtain the liquidity over the past few days, Fayed told Daily News Egypon the sidelines of CBE's participation in the opening session of the forum held by the Union of Arab Banks (UAB) on Thursday about the role of financing and investment in reinforcing financial inclusion, stability, and fighting terrorism in Arab countries. In December 2015, Egypt obtained the approval of both the WB and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to obtain two loans with total value of $4.5bn over three years, where $3bn will be obtained from WB whereas $1.5bn will be obtained from AfDB. In January, CBE received $500m that represent the first portion of the AfDB loan. In regards of the loan, China pledged to provide to CBE. The load agreement was signed but the value of the loan has not been transferred to CBE yet. Governor of CBE Tarek Amer said in press statement that transferring the first portion of the loan from WB may take some time. Foreign exchange reserves are in need of this dollar liquidity as a form of urgent support to the former with the beginning of the New Year, according to Amer. Foreign exchange reserves increased slightly in 2015, where they reached $16.445bn by the end of December compared to $16.422bn by the end of November, with an increase of $23m. Within days CBE is expected to reveal the latest levels that foreign exchange reserves reached during January 2016.
