Egypt's net foreign reserves down 3.6% in Feb

Egypt's net foreign reserves dropped by 3.6 percent to 15.7 billion U.S. dollars in February as the country continued to be plagued by political uncertainties, Egypt' s Central Bank said in a statement on its website on Sunday. The net foreign reserves dropped by 600 million U.S. dollars in the second month of 2012, according to the statement. A year after popular protests ousted long-serving President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's foreign reserves have been shrinking sharply due to the decline of tourism and prolonged political chaos. The government is now seeking foreign funds to jumpstart its economy battered by protracted political turmoil, a high fiscal deficit, a rising unemployment rate and faltering growth momentum. Rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) has, however, downgraded in February the long-term rating on Egypt from B+ to B due to sharp decline of foreign exchange reserves and social uncertainties.