The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced that its foreign exchange reserves increased by $4.01bn as of the end of November 2016, up from $19.04 to register $23.06bn at the end of October.

According to a note released by the CBE on Monday, the size of its foreign currencies at the end of November rose by $4.21bn to record $19.83bn, up from $15.62bn at the end of October.

Meanwhile, the value of gold included in the reserves declined by $164m to reach $2.45bn, down from $2.62bn.

The value of the special drawing rights (SDRs) amounted to $756m at the end of November, compared to $784m at the end of October, while loans to the international Monetary Fund (IMF) recorded $42m.

CBE Governor Tarek Amer had noted in November that the CBE aims to register $25bn in foreign exchange reserves before the end of 2016.

Tamer Youssef, head of the treasury at a foreign bank operating in the Egyptian market, said the hike in reserves is owed to Egypt receiving $2.75bn from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the first tranche of the $12bn loan agreement. An additional $2bn is the value of external treasury bonds that the CBE offered on behalf of the Ministry of Finance.

The CBE stopped posing tenders to offer banks US dollars since 3 November after floating the Egyptian pound. The last tender was worth $100m on that date.