Banks operating in the Egyptian market opened letters of credit worth $6.34bn for imported petroleum products between January and December 2016, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). In a recent report, the CBE noted that the total collected US dollars by the banking system since the flotation on 3 November amounted to $19.2bn. The CBE added that it has achieved and exceeded the requirements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme—which were agreed upon as part of the economic reform programme to obtain a $12bn loan facility—in terms of foreign exchange reserves and monetary indicators. The foreign exchange reserves at the CBE registered $28.526bn at the end of March. CBE governor Tarek Amer said in previous remarks that he is satisfied with the level of reserves and does not need to raise it, even though he expected the reserves to increase in the coming period, supported by the inflow of US dollars. Amer left Cairo on Sunday, accompanied by a high-level delegation from the CBE, for Washington to attend the spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, scheduled to be held between 21 and 23 April. Also attending the meetings is Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, Sahar Nasr. The Egyptian delegation is set to present the government's priorities to the IMF, the World Bank, and a number of international financiers.
