Egypt's Foreign Reserves at US$34 Billion

Egypt's foreign reserves registered US$34.2 billion in January 2010, edging up from a month earlier, according to new data published on the Central Bank of Egypt, or CBE, Web site.

The January figure was slightly higher than the US$34.1 billion in December 2009.

January is the ninth consecutive month-on-month rise. In February 2010, The Central Bank of Egypt kept its key interest rates unchanged for the third consecutive time after six straight reductions in borrowing costs in 2009. Suez Canal Revenues, one of Egypt's largest foreign currency earners, fell 0.5% year on year in December 2009 to about US$390. - Wall Street Journal