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Friday, April 19, 2024 4:32 GMT
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 US$111.3 billion compared to US$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%, which is considered a safe amount according to international standards.Banking sources said that the Central Bank of Egypt had paid more than US$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 US$9.7 billion from the International Monetary Fund and international markets between May and June, of which US$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 US$410 million during Q1, to record US$100.975 billion, compared to US$101.39 billion last December. The balance of the debt fell to US$10.316 billion by the end of March, compared to US$11.28 billion at the end of last year.Egypt’s foreign debt is split up with US$60.4 billion owed by the government (54.27%), US$27.78 billion by the Central Bank of Egypt (24.96%), US$8.25 billion by other banks, and US$14.85 billion in other sectors.The external debt owed by the general government shrank by around US$1 billion, down by 1.65% on a quarterly basis, to record US$60.4 billion by the end of March, compared to US$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 US$20.07 billion in international bonds and US$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 US$13.7 billion between July 2019 and March and distributed in instalments valued at US$10.6 billion with interest valued at US$3.1 billion.