Foreign holdings of Egyptian treasury bills have increased to EGP10.2bn (USD540mn) in December, according to Central Bank (CBE) data. This is more than 10 times the EGP989mn of foreign holdings reported in October, albeit still a fraction of the EGP60bn held before the 2011 uprising. CBE had said that commercial lenders were able to attract USD9bn since the float, largely from households and private businesses selling foreign currency and remittances from abroad. “We have seen a notable improvement in foreign currency inflows to banks over the past few weeks,” Assistant Sub Governor Rami Aboul Naga said. (Bloomberg)