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Foreign reserves stood at $13.4 billion at the end of March, a critical low that does not cover three months' worth of imports. The reserves stood at $36 billion before the January 2011 uprising that ousted longtime President Hosni Mubarak. Qatar, which has warm ties with Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood group, has thrown the government several lifelines by injecting $5 billion into the country's central bank. It pledged another $3 billion last week. The government of President Mohammed Morsi, who comes from the Muslim Brotherhood, is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a $4.8 billion loan to bolster the country's battered economy and help cover a widening budget deficit. The talks have dragged on for more than a year. Worried residents rushed to exchange Egyptian pounds for dollars late last year amid widening political turmoil that has rocked the country's economy for the past two years. The bank has been auctioning U.S. dollars to help regulate devaluation of the Egyptian pound, which has dropped 11 percent of its value against the dollar since early December. Economic experts have suggested that the pound was overvalued and will continue to slide.
[Associated
Press;
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