Foreign currency reserves rose by $244 million to reach nearly $26.88 billion in November, while gold reserves increased by $160 million to $8.26 billion in the same month.

Meanwhile, special drawings rights (SDRs) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dropped by $333 million to reach $38 million in November.

The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF to supplement the official reserves of its member countries.

Egypt is engaged in a $3 billion four-year loan agreement with the IMF. The loan has suffered multiple hurdles that impeded the first and second of eight planned reviews on the Egyptian economy to disburse the loan installments.

The CBE has been taking various steps to increase its international reserves amid a shortage in foreign currency that caused a discrepancy between official and parallel exchange rates of local currency.

It is worth noting that around $15 billion of the central bank’s international reserves are deposits by Arab countries.

In the past few months, the UAE has renewed a $1 billion deposit at the CBE for three years to 1 July 2026, while Kuwait prolonged the tenor of a $4 billion deposit.