Egypt’s net international reserves shrink

The Central Bank of Egypt announced on Sunday that net international reserves stood at US$14.9 billion in June, having fallen by $1.12 billion over the past month.

The government failed to secure funding from abroad to support its ailing economy in June, as the country has been expecting nationwide protests on June 30 as planned by the Tamarod (Rebel) campaign that launched in April.

Qatar, a supporter of the Morsi regime with often-disputed intentions, had allocated $8 billion in aid since the January 2011 revolution, including a $ 1 billion grant. The last of this came in April when Egypt sold $3 billion worth of dollar-denominated treasury bonds to Qatar, boosting foreign reserves for the first time since October 2012.

The bank also issued a statement to all Egyptian banks formally requesting they open an account under the name "Support Egypt" #306306, in order to accept donations from citizens. The statement specified that banks should not charge any commission or fees on transfers to the account, and transfer all funds at the end of each working day to an account with the same name at the Central Bank.

The Support Egypt campaign was launched with the aim of collecting donations to support the Egyptian economy.