Cash reserves rise in March despite hot money exit

Egypt’s foreign exchange reserves rose during last March to $52.830 billion compared to $52.745 billion in February, the Central Bank announced Sunday, despite heavy foreign investor outflows from the debt market during the same month.

The Egyptian Exchange’s monthly report for March showed foreign institutions recorded net sales of treasury bills and bonds worth about 239.5 billion Egyptian pounds (nearly $4.4 billion), up from net sales of 58.5 billion pounds (nearly $1.1 billion) in February. The surge in outflows followed escalating regional risks after the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Moody’s estimated in a report published Saturday that total foreign outflows from the Egyptian debt market since the start of the war had reached about $8 billion.

“The exit of about $8 billion from debt instruments is showing up directly in the banking sector’s net foreign assets, which are the first line of defense,” Hany Genena, head of research at Pharos Securities Brokerage, told Al Manassa.

Genena said banks bear primary responsibility for providing the foreign currency needed to cover foreign investors’ exits from their holdings.

Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, chairman of Commercial International Bank (CIB), said in January that most of the hot money that entered Egypt was kept outside foreign exchange reserves, to avoid pressure on them during periods of heavy outflows.

Net foreign assets of banks and the Central Bank shifted from deficit to surplus in May 2024 after the Ras El-Hekma deal, which helped curb the local currency’s slide against the dollar. Net foreign assets reached 996.1 billion pounds in September, according to Central Bank data.