Foreign reserves fell in April for the second consecutive month as the central bank honored repatriation requests from foreign investors, the Central Bank of Egypt said in a statement (pdf). Reserves slipped by another USD 3.1 bn during the month to USD 37 bn, having fallen from a peak of USD 45.5 bn in February. “Global markets at large remain under pressure due to the persistence of the covid-19 pandemic which continues to drive portfolio flow reversals from emerging markets … The Egyptian market was no different, and for this reason, the CBE continues to cover the legacy CBE FX repatriation mechanism flows as they exit the market in a seamless manner,” the bank said.

CBE dips into reserves to meet debt repayments, buy strategic goods: The bank spent USD 1.6 bn in meeting external obligations — including a USD 1 bn eurobond that matured last month — and provided an undisclosed sum of FX to back the purchase of strategic commodities.

Portfolio investment in Egyptian t-bills fell by more than 50% during the height of the emerging-market sell-off in March, according to CBE figures (pdf) published Thursday. Investors sold around USD 10.4 bn (EGP 161.3 bn) of EGP t-bills during the month, more than half of the USD 20 bn invested in short-term local currency debt at the end of February. Total portfolio investment (bills + bonds) fell by around 40% in March, according to figures provided last month by Finance Minister Mohamed Maait. The outflows came as investors record sums out of emerging markets in March in a global risk-off.