CAIRO – 22 July 2024: A source at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) revealed that Egypt's external debt reached a new low of $153.86 billion by the end of May 2024, compared to $168.03 billion in December 2023. This represents a decrease of $14.17 billion, equivalent to a decline rate of 8.43 percent.
The source emphasized that this reduction in external debt over the past five months is the largest ever recorded in history.
On a positive note, Egypt's net foreign reserves reached a record high of $46.38 billion in June 2024, marking an increase of $13.26 billion since August 2022.
The source also mentioned that the current reserve balance is sufficient to cover approximately 7.9 months' worth of the country's merchandise imports.
Furthermore, there has been a significant increase in foreign exchange flows to the local market, with a growth rate of about 200 percent. This includes a notable rise of over 100 percent in remittances from Egyptians living abroad, compared to levels prior to the unification of the exchange rate.
These increased currency flows have contributed to the elimination of the foreign assets deficit of the CBE, resulting in a surplus of $10.3 billion in June 2024, compared to a deficit of $11.4 billion in January 2024.
Moreover, the net foreign assets of banks have improved, reaching $4.6 billion in May 2024, compared to a negative balance of $17.6 billion in the same month last year.
In addition to these economic developments, the source mentioned that Egypt has experienced a significant decrease in inflation rates since August 2022 due to successful monetary policy decisions.
This downward trend has continued, and by June 2024, the inflation rate had significantly slowed down to 27.5 percent, marking the lowest rate since February 2023.
Lastly, the yield on Egypt's dollar bonds maturing in January 2027 has experienced a notable decline from 22.86 percent in October 2023 to 9.2 percent in June 2024, reflecting a decrease of approximately 13 percent.
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