Global Courant
The balance of foreign exchange reserves rose to US$34.806 billion at the end of June, compared to US$34.660 billion in May – an increase of US$146 million, the Central Bank of Egypt announced Friday.
The Central Bank of Egypt announced that the value of gold held in foreign exchange reserves at the end of June was about $7.738 billion, compared to $7.949 billion at the end of May last year.
The CBE said the value of foreign currency held in the cash reserve had risen to $27.044 billion at the end of June, compared to $26.686 billion at the end of May.
The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee decided at its June 22 meeting to maintain and raise overnight deposit and lending rates and the central bank’s main transaction rate at 18.25 percent, 19.25 percent and 18.75 percent, respectively. maintain the credit and discount rate at the level of 18.75 percent.
The growth rate of real economic activity in Egypt reached 3.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to a growth rate of 4.4 percent in the third quarter of the same year.
Consequently, the first half of fiscal year 2022-2023 recorded a growth rate of 4.2 percent.
Detailed data for the fourth quarter of 2022 show that real GDP growth was driven by the positive contribution of net exports, in line with exchange rate developments.
In terms of the labor market, the unemployment rate decreased slightly to 7.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023, compared to an average of 7.2 percent in the previous quarter, mainly due to the increase in the number of people in work.
Annual general and urban base inflation rates were 32.7 percent and 40.3 percent, respectively, in May 2023.
