Egypt's external debt hits $111.3bn

Egypt’s external debt rose 4.78 per cent during the third quarter of the last financial year 2019-20, reaching $111.3 billion, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced yesterday.

“Egypt’s external public debt rose from $106.22 billion during the third quarter of the previous financial year 2018-19,” the CBE said in a report, adding that the country’s external debt had dropped by $1.4 billion in December 2019.

Egypt has been negotiating billions of dollars in aid from various lenders to help revive an economy that was hit by political upheaval since a 2011 revolution and to liquidate the state’s foreign reserves. The country’s need for foreign exchange has increased throughout the current year, due to the repercussions of the novel coronavirus.

On Monday, the Egyptian government signed a $2 billion Islamic financing loan agreement “to support the state’s budget”.

Egypt’s financial year starts in July and ends in June of the following year.

READ: Egypt foreign reserves record slight rise in July