Egypt's external debt declines by $206M in Q1 of 2023/24

CAIRO - 14 January 2024: Egypt's external debt decreased during the first quarter of the current fiscal year 2023-2024 by approximately $206 million, attributed to reductions in government and commercial bank debts. However, an increase in the central bank's debt has mitigated this decline.

 

Egypt's external debt declined to around $164.52 billion at the end of September 2023, compared to about $164.73 billion at the end of June 2023. This marks the second consecutive decline, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

 

The long-term external debt accounted for the majority - 81.6 percent - of the total debt, reaching approximately $134.25 billion at the end of September. In contrast, short-term debt represented about 18.4 percent, totaling $30.27 billion at the end of September, alleviating the burden of debt repayment.

 

Government external debt, constituting over 50 percent of the total external debt, saw a decrease of about $901 million during the first fiscal quarter. The total balance decreased to approximately $82.527 billion at the end of September, reflecting a 1 percent quarterly decrease.

 

The external debt of Egyptian commercial banks, comprising 12.7 percent of the total debt, decreased by about $73 million, reaching a total of $20.905 billion at the end of September, a 0.34 percent quarterly decrease.

 

Factors Limiting the Decline

 

The rise in the external debt of the Central Bank of Egypt, representing 27 percent of Egypt's total external debt, has slowed the pace of decline. The central bank's external debt increased by approximately $769 million during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, totaling around $44.386 billion at the end of September, compared to about $43.617 billion at the end of June, a 1.7 percent quarterly increase.

 

The long-term external debt for the central bank reached $24.563 billion at the end of September, compared to about $25.729 billion at the end of June, reflecting a decrease of approximately $1.166 billion or a 4.5 percent quarterly decline.

 

Meanwhile, the short-term debt for the central bank amounted to about $19.82 billion, an increase of $1.93 billion or a 10.8 percent quarterly rise.

 

The debt balance for other sectors, not specified by the central bank, remained unchanged at around $16.7 billion at the end of September, representing 10.1 percent of the total external debt.