Egypt’s net foreign reserves rose to US$45.457 billion in January 2020 from $45.420 billion in December 2019, an increase of $37 million, the Central Bank of Egypt said on Thursday. Net foreign reserves in the Central Bank of Egypt at the end of November stood at about $45.354 billion. Foreign exchange reserves witnessed a steady increases after the flotation of the Egyptian pound in 2016, when Egypt devalued its currency by 48 percent, allowing it to float freely, in order to meet a key demand by the IMF and secure a three-year $12 billion loan from the fund. Economic reforms also involved subsidy cuts and a value-added tax, and i nflation rates later accelerated to 33 percent, which was accompanied by a sharp decline in earnings, according to Bloomberg. However, inflation has declined, approaching the lowest level in years, Bloomberg reported in November 2019.  A decline in the dollar this December also put the exchange rate below the LE16 mark for the first time in three years. In late…
