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

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.

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.

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.