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Egypt's Central Bank gets $1.7bn in Libyan, Qatari deposits

Egypt's Central Bank gets $1.7bn in Libyan, Qatari deposits
Economy
2 min read
12 June, 2023
The Egyptian central bank said Sunday that it had received the two sizeable deposits from Libya and Qatar late last year, as Egypt grapples with a foreign currency shortage.
A shortage in US dollars has brought parts of the Egyptian economy to a standstill [Getty]

Egypt's Central Bank said Sunday that it had received sizeable deposits from Libya and Qatar, as Cairo grapples with a foreign currency shortage.

The two deposits - one of $1 billion from Qatar, the other for $700 million from Libya – came at the end of 2022, the bank said in a report released on Sunday, according to The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

A shortage in US dollars in particular has brought parts of the Egyptian economy to a standstill. Cairo has had to defer on payments for wheat and other essentials for months as it struggles to pay suppliers.

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The deposits bring the bank's foreign reserve levels to $34.7 billion. Qatar has a total of $3 billion in Egypt's central bank, and Libya $900 million.

The foreign currency shortage is only one of Egypt's many economic woes. It is also having to contend with massive repayments for its external borrowing.

In a bid to generate cash, the government is looking to sell off state assets, with Gulf countries including Qatar looking like the most likely potential buyers.

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The announcement of new deposits comes as Cairo readies itself for a visit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the first week of July.

The IMF approved a $3 billion loan for Egypt late last year.

That loan will serve only as a small help to Egypt. The Washington-based agency said in January that Egypt faces a financing gap of $17 billion for the next four years.