Cairo: Egypt’s central bank has received $900 million (Dh3.3 billion) from the China Development Bank under a $1 billion financing agreement signed last month, Central Bank Governor Tarek Amer said in state newspaper Al Ahram.
The $900 million will raise Egypt’s dollar reserves to around $17.4 billion, Amer was quoted as saying.
Egypt, which relies heavily on imports, has been facing a foreign exchange crisis since a popular uprising in 2011 toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak and drove away tourists and investors, both major sources of hard currency. Reserves held at the central bank tumbled to around $16.48 billion in January from around $36 billion before the uprising.
Investment and aid deals worth billions of dollars were signed on January 21 during a visit to Egypt by China’s President Xi Jinping.
