Remittances of Egypt's expats up 20 pct to reach 24.2 bln USD

CAIRO, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- The remittances of Egyptian expatriates rose by 20 percent to reach 24.2 billion U.S. dollars since November 2016, the highest in the country's history, the official MENA news agency reported.

"Total money transfers hit 24.2 billion dollars from November 2016 to November 2017, up 20 percent," MENA quoted a source at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) as saying.

Remittances of Egyptian expatriates are one of the major sources of hard currency in the country along with the revenues of the Suez Canal and the tourism sector.

Egypt decided last year to fully float the exchange rate of its local currency to contain shortage of the U.S. dollar reserves and embark on a strict three-year economic reform program.

Suffering economic slowdown over the past few years due to political turmoil and security challenges, the floatation of the Egyptian pound encouraged the International Monetary Fund to support Egypt's economic reform by a 12-billion-dollar loan, a third of which has been delivered to the North African country.

"The pound liberalization managed to end the black market in Egypt and to encourage Egyptian expatriates to transfer their funds to Egyptian banks," said the CBE source. Enditem