Egypt repays foreign debt worth $20 bn

Egypt repays foreign debt worth $20 bn

 

 

 

Ahmed Kamel

Egypt repaid foreign debt worth $20 billion over the past four months, despite the Covid-19 crisis, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) has said.

The nation’s foreign debt accounts for less than 33 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). The MENA report said Egypt had repaid its short-term debt, and replaced it with a long-term loan portfolio, some of which extends for 40 years.

A World Bank report said earlier that the maturity of Egypt’s external debt has also shifted towards long-term instruments. Egypt’s foreign debt stood at $112.6 billion at the end of December 2019, including: $101.3 billion in long-term loans.

On Friday, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a 12-month Stand-by Arrangement worth $5.2 billion for Egypt.

The new arrangement aims to help Egypt cope with challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic to meet its balance of payments needs and to finance the budget deficit.

 The government has carried out a raft of reforms since the flotation of the pound on November 3, 2016, fixing its financial and monetary policies.