Egypt settled $52B of its foreign liabilities over the past two years: Finance Minister

CAIRO - 15 October 2023: The Egyptian Minister of Finance, Mohamed Maait indicated that Egypt has settled $52 billion of its external debts during the past two fiscal years 2022/2023 and 2021/2022.

The minister said this in response to questions from representatives of rating institutions and international banks on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Marrakesh.

Maait also shared some of Egypt’s financial indicators and stressed on Egypt’s commitment to pay its external debts in the coming years. Egypt relys on alternative tools and various markets to secure additional financing such as: samurai bonds, sukuk, and green bonds, panda bonds, in addition to the IPO program.

Earlier last week, Maait stated that Egypt expects to launch the new panda bonds soon, he revealed that the new group of Panda bonds will be worth $500 million, but did not disclose further details on a set date.

Finance minister reported that the average GDP growth is around 4 percent instead of 3 percent that was recorded in the period from 2011 to 2015, and unemployment rate that is currently 7.2 percent instead of 12.4 percent in the same period.

Maait pointed out that Egypt’s biggest challenge currently lies in the debt service ratio index for public revenues, which averaged 37.4 percent in the period of 2011 to 2015 compared to 49.7 percent currently.

He assured that the Ministry of Finance is working to improve this by mobilizing additional resources, developing the tax administration system and including the informal economy without imposing new burdens on citizens.