For the first time in five months, Egypt’s foreign customers in Egyptian treasury bills increased to $8.2 billion by June 2022, according to the latest bulletin from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
This reflects a 4.2% increase over the previous month. The bulletin also indicated that Egypt’s external debt increased to $157.8 billion at the end of March 2022, up from approximately $23 billion in March 2021.
Higher net disbursements of loans and facilities and a devaluation of most borrowing currencies against the US dollar caused the jump in debt, the CBE’s bulletin indicated.
During the first nine months of the fiscal year (FY) 2021/2022, Egypt paid around $20 billion in foreign debt service. However, the external debt-to-GDP ratio was 34.6% at the end of March 2022, which is still within the safe limits set by international standards.
Interest fees accounted for 16.7% of the total debt paid. Egypt’s interest payments account for 44.6% of state revenue this FY.
Reporting and video production by Nour Eltigani.
