CAIRO: A monthly report published in early July by the Information and Decision Making Support Center of the Egyptian Cabinet revealed an increase in net international reserves of the Central Bank of Egypt during the month of May, which increased 12.5 percent to reach $1.35 billion, compared to the same month last year. The volume of deposits in the banking sector – other than the central bank – also increased to 884.2 billion Egyptian Pounds in April last year, up by 10.22 percent compared to the corresponding month in 2009. The report noted that the total domestic liquidity rose by 9.6 percent registered in April amounting to 890.4 billion pounds compared to its level in 2009. The revenues of Suez Canal also increased during the month of May by 15.3 percent to reach $394.8 million compared to May 2009. With regard to the electricity sector, the report indicated that electricity generated during the month of last May reached 12.05 billion and KW per hour, increasing by 9.7 percent compared to the corresponding month of 2009. The total use of electricity in the May amounted to 10.057 billion KW/hour, up almost 7.2 percent from its level during the corresponding month of 2009. In the field of land transport, the report pointed to increased revenues for passenger railways by 3.4 percent, achieving 796.1 million pounds during the period from July 2009 to May 2010, compared to the same period of last year, while revenues of transport of goods by rail increased by 21.6 percent and registered 248.6 million pounds. The monthly report by the Center for Information and Decision Support of the Cabinet said that “the trade deficit rose by 29.7 percent during March to reach $2.12 billion compared to $1.634 one billion during last February. It also increased by 30 percent compared with same month of the year 2009.” The value of commodity exports during the month of March amounted to $2.378 billion compared to $1.996 billion during the previous month of February, “an increase of 19.1 percent and had risen by 32.8 percent compared to March 2009.” BM
