The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has announced that the country’s foreign debt increased to about $125.3bn in September 2020. The figure reflects a 1.5% hike, equivalent to about $1.8bn, compared to June 2020.
In its monthly report issued on Tuesday, the CBE said that this increase came as a result of an increase in the net disbursements of loans and facilities by about $400m.
It was also driven by the approximately $1.4bn increase in the exchange rates of most of the borrowed currencies against the US dollar.
The CBE said Egypt’s foreign debt service amounted to about $4.9bn during the period extending from July to September of fiscal year (FY) 2020/21. Of this amount, $3.7bn is paid in instalments, while paid interest reached about $1.2bn.
Indicators show a decline in the ratio of the foreign debt stock to the gross domestic product to 33.9%, according to the CBE, which stressed that it is within safe limits according to international standards.
In another context, the CBE said that net foreign assets increased by 103.1%, the equivalent of nearly EGP 125.9bn, during the period from July to October 2020. As a result of the significant increase, it reached about EGP 247.998bn.
CBE explained that this increase came as a result of an increase in the net foreign assets of CBE, nearly equal to EGP 43bn, and net foreign assets in banks estimated at EGP 82.9bn.
