Egypt’s currency hits a 5-year high, recording its highest value against the US dollar since October 2016 said Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said.

Since June 2020, the exchange rate has seen a steady decline, recorded at LE 15.7 in November. The Egyptian pound stabilized in February 2021, representing the highest value of the pound against the dollar since October 2016.

El-Said pointed out that net foreign reserves continued to rise for the eighth month in a row, to reach $40.2 billion during last February.

She also highlighted that the volume of remittances from Egyptians from abroad increased during Q1 2020/2021, to record its highest level over the past two years.

Since March 2020, CBE has been using foreign reserves to cover the Egyptian market's needs of foreign exchange, as well as the drop in foreign investments and international portfolios due to the precautionary measures taken to confront coronavirus.

The current average of foreign reserves covers about 8 months of Egypt's commodity imports, which is higher than the global average of about three months of commodity imports.

The main function of the foreign exchange reserve, including its gold and various international currencies, is to provide commodities, repay the installments on interest rates of external debt, and to cope with economic crises.