Egypt's public debt rises to 1.651 trillion Egyptian pounds

Egypt’s Central Bank issued a report on Thursday indicating that the state’s public debt totalled 1.651 trillion Egyptian pounds ($229 billion) at the end of December.

According Monitoring Network News, an independent Cairo-based media network, the report says the government’s debt constituted 84 per cent of the total public debt, increasing 136 billion Egyptian pounds during the six months from July until the end of December, to reach 1.387 trillion Egyptian pounds ($199 billion) by the end of the fiscal year 2013-2014.

Previously, Al-Ahram Gate online news had reported that Egypt’s foreign debt reached $47 billion at the end of September 2013, compared to $43.2 billion at the end of June 2013.

The Central Bank’s credit facilities have increased by about 1.2 billion Egyptian pounds during the period from July until the end of December 2013, rising slightly by 0.2 per cent, while the private business sector facilities accounted for 63.2 per cent of the total facilities granted to non-governmental enterprises.