Egypt’s external debt down to almost $111bn

Special Egypt’s external debt down to almost $111bn
Egyptians walk in front of the Egyptian Central Bank in Cairo. (AP)
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Updated 02 September 2020
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Egypt’s external debt down to almost $111bn

Egypt’s external debt down to almost $111bn
  • The foreign debts at the end of the first quarter of this year were $20.07 billion in international bonds and $40.3 billion in loans

CAIRO: The Central Bank of Egypt has announced, for the first time in years, a fall in the country’s external debt.

Figures for the first quarter (Q1) of the year showed the deferred payments total to be standing at $111.3 billion compared to $112.7 billion in Q4 of 2019.

A central bank report said the ratio of external debt to the gross domestic product decreased to 31.7 percent, which is considered a safe amount according to international standards.

Banking sources said that the Central Bank of Egypt had paid more than $17 billion in commitments to foreign funds and institutions during March and April, when the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak was spreading around the world.

Egypt had succeeded in obtaining around $9.7 billion from the International Monetary Fund and international markets between May and June, of which $4.4 billion had already been received with the rest arriving in two installments.

Central data revealed that the balance of long-term external debt decreased by $410 million during Q1, to record $100.975 billion, compared to $101.39 billion last December.

The balance of the debt fell to $10.316 billion by the end of March, compared to $11.28 billion at the end of last year.

Egypt’s foreign debt is split up with $60.4 billion owed by the government (54.27 percent), $27.78 billion by the Central Bank of Egypt (24.96 percent), $8.25 billion by other banks, and $14.85 billion in other sectors.

The external debt owed by the general government shrank by around $1 billion, down by 1.65 percent on a quarterly basis, to record $60.4 billion by the end of March, compared to $61.42 billion in December 2019.

The foreign debts owed by the Egyptian government at the end of the first quarter of this year were $20.07 billion in international bonds and $40.3 billion in loans.

The entire foreign debt owed by the government falls into the category of long-term debt with maturities of more than 12 months.

The monthly bulletin of the central bank revealed that the burdens of external debt service were recorded at around $13.7 billion between July 2019 and March and distributed in instalments valued at $10.6 billion with interest valued at $3.1 billion.