Egypt's net foreign reserves inched up for the first time since December 2010 to climb to $15.21 billion at the end of April, Egypt's central bank announced on its website (http://www.cbe.org.eg) on Sunday. The figure shows a slight increase of $92 million above March's level of $15.12 million. Total reserves have depleted at a lower rate over the last two months. They lost $660 million between February and March as opposed to last year's monthly drops of around $2 billion. Some economists are expecting a sharp drop in the pound as reserves appear close to danger level and long-awaited help from foreign donors including the International Monetary Fund has been repeatedly delayed. Few are willing to rule out a devaluation for 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. "We are less worried about the decline in reserves than the markets seem to be," Renaissance Capital said in a recent research note. "We still see a lower probability of devaluation or depreciation in the short term." It said it still expected Egypt to seal a long-delayed $3.2 billion loan from the IMF and reserves could also be helped by incoming foreign investment such as France Telecom's planned purchase of Mobinil shares.
