Egypt Foreign Currency Reserves Plunge as Bond Yields Soar to Record High - Bloomberg

Egypt’s international reserves (EGIRES) fell for a 12th month in December, sending bond yields (JPSSGEGY) to a record high and fueling investor concerns about a currency devaluation.
Reserves declined to $18.1 billion from $20.2 billion in November, the bank in Cairo said today on its website. They stood at $36 billion a year ago, before the start of the revolt that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Central bank support has helped cushion the impact of political turmoil on Egypt’s pound.
“The acceleration in reserve loss is very alarming and just pushes Egypt that much closer to a full blown balance of payments crisis,” said Raza Agha, a senior Middle East and North Africa economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland in London. “Clearly, the pace of reserve loss is not sustainable, and only increases pressure on them to quickly get multilateral and bilateral donors on board.”

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